Brexit:
‘Britons
just as
welcome’
Minister pledges support, teacher jobs safeguarded
by OLIVER ROWLAND
FRANCE has reassured British residents that
they are still welcome here and official guidelines have been issued in the run-up to Brexit.
The guidelines – in six sections: driving licences, integration, travel, residency, nationality and
elections – cover both a deal and no-deal. They
confirm that residency cards will be obligatory.
We can provide a translation (see page 4).
This comes as French MPs passed a special
law enabling measures to be brought in quickly
to cope with a no-deal including for ports,
flights, Eurostar travel and Britons whose residency rights would, in theory, be lost overnight.
France’s Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau
said: “I want to tell British people living here

that they will be welcome tomorrow as they
are today. Many of them could not take part
in the referendum that led to Brexit. They
must not become hostages of a no-deal...
“We commit ourselves without ambiguity to
do everything to ensure a situation comparable to that which they would have benefited
from in the context of the deal.”
Mrs Loiseau also said British teachers and
other fonctionnaires could keep their status.
Full Brexit updates: Pages 4-5

P5

LOUIS The village
PASTEUR with 800

mayors

INTERVIEW

Senator
for French
abroad

P12

P15

SIMON HEFFER

Macron tried
to do the
impossible

P14

Amazing scientist
but also media genius

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The Connexion

January 2019

Will gilets jaunes form a political party?

COULD the gilets jaunes form a
political party to contest this year’s
European elections?
They have so far been associated
mostly with road blockages and street
protests, but Hayk Shahinyan, a prominent figure in the movement in the
Seine-Maritime area, has announced:
“We’re getting organised – we’re going to
present a list in the European elections.”
If they did, they could win as much as
12% of the vote, behind an En Marche/
MoDem list with 21%, according to an
Ipsos poll for Le Journal du Dimanche.
That could put them in the running for
second place. In comparison, green party EELV won 9% and six seats in 2014;
the Socialists won 14% and 13 seats.
Commentators say they could become
a French version of Italy’s 5 Star Movement but many point to the lack of clear
leadership and a defined list of demands.
After concessions and four weekends
of disruption, 66% of the French still
said they supported the protests. At
the same time, 49% found the president’s response “convincing” and 54%
thought the movement should stop, according to an OpinionWay poll. A ‘fifth
act’ of protests went ahead with 66,000
– half as many as the Saturday before
– joining in, said the Interior Ministry.
Their demands are varied, with a

‘Red scarves’ grow to claim 30,000 supporters
THE foulards rouges (red scarves) – a
movement opposed to the methods of
the gilets jaunes – now claim to have
more than 30,000 supporters.
Spokesman “Loïc” (he withheld his
surname, saying members had
received threats) said: “Everyone in
the group has their own opinion on
the root cause of the gilets jaunes.
“Some agree there are too many taxes,
others say people shouldn’t complain
about them. We’re not aiming to enter
that debate – we are only against the
way the gilets jaunes are expressing
themselves. We condemn the violence,
and lots of people started joining us

after the street riots in Paris”. He says
that although the gilets jaunes have
been infiltrated by extremists from far
left and far right groups, some are
themselves pro-violence.
“That’s our first point: we are antiviolence. Our second is that we want
the freedom to circulate, as written in
article 13 of Declaration of Human
Rights. We are against the fact that
many small businesses are losing

money through this.” He doubts the
concessions will be enough. “It won’t
stop because the gilets jaunes are not
all asking for the same things. Some
want a referendum, even though they
don’t have a question to ask, some
want to topple the government.”
The group is run through Facebook
and, as an IT professional, Loïc says its
influence is huge. “Now Facebook promotes content from groups over content in pages, so you see more of what
you like, meaning you consume more
Facebook. It’s a business, after all, but it
means you get into your bubble where
you think everyone agrees with you.”

significant number seeking to see
President Macron removed from office.
They include “citizens’ initiative
referendums” – the right for the
people to create or modify a law without
going via parliament or government if
it is supported by 700,000 signatures
– ending homelessness, raising disability benefits and new caps on rents.
After a month of blockages on roundabouts and péages and – sometimes
violent – street protests, the president

announced concessions, including €100
more a month for those on the minimum wage, axing a planned rise in tax on
diesel, suspending a new tougher contrôle
technique on diesel cars for six months,
ending tax on overtime, and axing higher
social charges on pensions for those with
income under €2,000 a month.
One of the unwitting founders of
the movement, Jacline Mouraud, who
made a passionate video against the
fuel tax but has since been disowned by

many hardliners, has called for an end
to the blockages. She told Connexion:
“The changes made by the president are
in the right direction, even if they do
not go far enough. His tone was serious
and marked with humility. We must
now transform the movement to limit
the impact on the economy.”
She said the government planned to
organise ‘citizens’ rendez-vous’ meetings
and people should take part, so problems
are heard, and “build, not destroy”.

People need to feel tax justice Social media is the
IT DID not go unnoticed by protesters that on the same day
President Macron spoke to the nation with concessions, the
Senate voted through changes to the Exit Tax. Currently, rich
businesspeople who leave France must pay a tax on the
‘latent capital gains’ of their business shares of 30% if they
sell them within 15 years – this was reduced to two to five
years. We spoke to two tax experts about tax justice.
Tax justice and tax equality are
vital to France, says Robert
Matthieu, former tax inspector
and author of Payer Moins
d’Impôts pour les Nuls (Paying
Less Tax for Dummies) – but
achieving them is not easy.
The ISF (Impôt de solidarité sur
la fortune) was designed to
reallocate wealth from the richest to the poorest and close the
gap between the two.
President Macron, as promised in his manifesto,
relaunched the tax as the Impôt
sur la fortune immobilière, limiting it to property. Shares and
trust funds are now exempt.
The effect has been less tax in
percentage terms for the richest
1% while the burden on the least
prosperous 10-15% has grown.
Lucas Chancel, co-director of
the World Inequality Lab at the
Paris School of Economics, says
tax injustice grates on most
people, with 75% in favour of
re-establishing ISF.
He said: “There is always talk
that the rich will leave the country if they are taxed too much
but studies show that this is not
the case. Figures also show that
taxing them less does not have a
trickle-down effect. It does not
kick-start the economy.”
He said the most unpopular
taxes on fossil fuels are needed.
“Taxing fossil fuels drives
people to change their heating
methods, and their transport to
cleaner, less polluting methods.
We have to reduce consump-

tion in order to reduce pollution but changing consuming
means spending money, to
change cars, to change heating
boilers etc.
“So I think we should re-establish the ISF, which would
generate around €5billion a
year, and spend that on helping
people change.”
ISF, he said, was always about
tax justice and establishing
equality. “It’s true that 58% of
the population don’t pay
income tax but that’s a tiny part
of taxes levied. There are social
security contributions, VAT
and taxes on so many other
things. The working poor pay
around 48% in indirect taxes,
which is approximately the
same as the rich. That’s the
injustice.”
He said the tax system is so
complex that nobody really
understands it and only the rich
can work it to their advantage.
To give it more sense,
people should pay less indirect
tax and more income tax. “They
need to feel they’re directly contributing to the project in France,
that they are stakeholders. Paying
income tax would help.”
Mr Matthieu agrees. He said:
“Getting tax rebates or credits
makes people feel like they are
getting a favour from the state.
“It’s complicated because no
government wants to announce
a tax for everyone. We need a
completely overhauled, simplified system but governments

just tweak. For example, the
new prélèvement à la source [pay
as you earn] is not a new tax,
just a new way of collecting it.”
He said French people have
been allergic to paying tax since
the Revolution. “But everyone
should pay at least €20 because
that makes them equal citizens,
and they would appreciate more
what their taxes provide, in
terms of public infrastructure.
“It might also be good to have
different bands of TVA so
people pay less for necessities,
more for luxuries.”
Mr Matthieu believes the main
problem is that society is undergoing a profound transformation. “Now people want instant
access to everything, they want
three televisions, three cars,
phones, a cruise for the whole
family. The rich have these
things, so why shouldn’t they?
“In this new society everyone
has everything, but it’s hard to
manage that. And meanwhile
the real poor can’t buy food.
“We have to distinguish the
real poor from the aspirational
want-mores. We can’t satisfy
them, but we can help those at
the absolute bottom end.”
The tax system, and the philosophy of paying tax, should be
explained in schools, he added.
“We also need to achieve tax
justice so tax is to pay for communal things like roads and to
redistribute wealth.”
It is a matter of national unity,
he said. People must feel they
are paying to finance a common project, a common view of
the country, of what they want
France to become in the future.
“That’s the bottom line. We
need a clearly defined national
project that everyone agrees on.
National unity is important.”

new force in politics
THE gilets jaunes protests
have been organised through
Facebook and commentators
question how healthy this is.
Many feel Facebook has
been hijacked by extremists,
noting the part it played in
Brexit and the election of
Donald Trump and several
other populist leaders.
Social media techniques are
not hard. Loïc, a spokesman
for the foulards rouges Facebook group (article above)
said it was easy to harness the
site’s algorithms.
“They used to prioritise pages
over local groups, but now it is
the opposite. It’s easy to build a
presence in a few days.”
He says IT professionals
will always adapt to play the
game. But several deaths,
many serious injuries and the
impact on the economy show
that it is not a game.
Olivier Costa, research professor at the CNRS in Bordeaux, says the danger is that
Facebook amplifies emotions:
“People who have never
learned the rules of formal
debate start discussing complex issues and it becomes
heated.
“Soon there’s no debate, no
negotiation, just a lot of
people stating their opinions.”
He says that as a result the
demands put forward by the
gilets jaunes were not logical,
coherent, or sometimes even
practical.
“Social media amplifies and
simplifies complex issues. The
gilets jaunes went from chatting on Facebook to extreme
action without talking to the

authorities and that’s new to
politics. The government was
caught off guard.”
He says it is a principle that
leaders do not negotiate in the
face of violence and threats.
“So Macron refused to speak
on the subject, and on the
other side, the gilets jaunes felt
their emotions were important
and had to be expressed.”
The situation revealed a paradox: people might be asking
whether the violence was
needed to persuade President
Macron to abandon unpopular tax hikes and to raise the
minimum wage, but the government was cornered. There
was little else they could do.
“The government didn’t see
it coming.
“They ignored the rumbling
discontent about the 80km
speed limit, the drop in ISF.
“There was a lack of political experience, and Macron
didn’t want to be seen as weak
like Hollande. He wanted to
just get on and impose his
programme from the start.
“He threw away much of his
social capital, so he came over
as arrogant instead of intelligent and thoughtful. He came
across as a snob.”
Mr Costa says politicians will
have to adapt: “Social media
is a new power, it is a louder
noise from the crowd. Politicians will have to pay more
attention to public opinion.
“This could be the beginning of a transformation.
People could get more
involved in politics and
civil life, and politicians could
begin to listen more.”

Higher fees for
overseas students

STUDENTS from outside the
EU will pay higher university
fees as of 2019-2020.
Britons coming to study after
Brexit are likely to be affected
(not those who live in France).
An annual undergraduate fee
will rise from €170 to €2,770
(but still seven times less than
UK overseas student fees and,
the government says, a third of
the actual, unsubsidised, cost).

600 speed cameras
are out of order
SIX hundred speed cameras,
out of a total 4,500, were listed
as out of order after the weeks
of gilets jaunes action by the
website radars-auto.com. More
than 130 had been burnt out.

Eight new cases of
babies without arms
EIGHT new cases of babies
born with malformed arms
have been identified in
Morbihan, Brittany, and added
to a national inquiry into
villages with high numbers.
One village, Guidel, had four
cases from 2011 to 2013. There
are 150 a year nationally.
Possible causes include genetics or toxic substances in diet,
medicines or the environment.

My house is in one region, my garden in another
YOU can only imagine the
administrative headaches for
the hamlet of La Lamberdais –
its eight homes are split between
two communes, two departments and even two regions.
But the good news for
residents is that, from January 1,
all their homes in north-east
France have been “moved” into
one commune in Brittany.
For decades, some residents
have belonged to the commune
of Grand-Fougeray in Ille-etVilaine in Brittany while others
to Mouais commune in LoireAtlantique, Pays de la Loire.
It meant the Mouais postman
had to cover an extra 4.5km to
deliver mail to two people, and
one traditional longère received
two taxe foncière bills each year
because the long low home is
half in one region and half in
the other.
Local farmer François Ruanlt
said: “At one point La Poste got
mixed up and wanted me to have
two letterboxes. Their computer
couldn’t understand it.
“I grew up in my parents’ home
on the Grand-Fougeray side of
the border but when I built a
house just down the lane, I
changed department and region.
“We had to be very careful
measuring out the land and
now there is just a metre
between my house and the
border, so the house and the

At one point La Poste wanted farmer François Ruanlt to have two different letterboxes
garden are not in the same
region.”
The main road to the hamlet
passes by Grand-Fougeray and
Mr Ruanlt said everyone is
happy with the move to incorporate all the commune there.
Rubbish collection will also
improve – at the moment dustmen from the two departments

Secret illegal clock
restorer gets the job

by BRIAN MCCULLOCH

ONE of the men involved in a
clandestine restoration of the
clock at the Panthéon in Paris
has been appointed its official
restorer – more than a decade
after being taken to court.
“It’s a lovely story,” said a
Panthéon spokeswoman. “The
circle has been completed.”
The clock stopped working in
1965 and this was noticed by
Untergunther, the “restoration
wing” of UX, a “positive and
apolitical” group which infiltrates and improves neglected
public places and stages events.
Clock resto­
rer Jean-Baptiste
Viot was a member, and he and
friends found ways to enter the
Panthéon after hours in 2005
and 2006. Methods included
not leaving at closing time and
copying keys left hanging on a
hook by the door by guards.
They even set up a “lounge”
with sofas, a hot plate and dining
table in a space between the
dome and the wall, with a
stunning view of Paris.
They did the work, spending
€4,000 on parts. But when they
told the administrator what
they had done (“so he could
keep it wound up,” one of the
group, Lazar Kunstmann, told
Con­nexion in 2007), they were
taken to court. Authorities from

News 3

connexionfrance.com

Centre
des
Monuments
Nationaux (CMN) failed in
attempts to prosecute because
the concept of breaking into a
public monument did not exist.
Lawyers argued it was, by
definition, open to the public.
What is more, “you can’t be
prosecuted for improving
something”, Mr Kunstmann
said at the time.
CMN eventually got them in
court in 2007, demanding
€48,300 in damages and costs
after they were caught sawing
through a padlock.

“

He knew the
mechanism better
than anyone else

The group was let off but with a
warning about the consequences
of a criminal conviction,
especially for a member who
worked as a nurse.
Unter­gunther then moved out
of the spotlight and the clock
was neglected and stopped
working again – until this year
when a budget was allocated for
restoration.
Mr Viot, now a respected
clock restorer and watch maker,

won the tender. Mr Kunstmann
said that when Mr Viot applied,
he did not hide that he was the
clockmaker taken to court.
“It was a strong argument in
his favour,” he said. “Through
the work he had done, he knew
the mechanism better than anyone else and had a good idea of
what needed doing.
“Without the work we did, this
would not have been possible.
We saved original parts from
rusting beyond repair.”
The clock is in three parts: the
face, which was not touched in
the clandestine restoration
because it would have needed
scaffolding; the mechanism in a
room above it, restored in 20052006 by Mr Viot; and bells, situated above the mechanism.
All three parts have now been
restored.
Asked what is special about the
mid-19th century clock, Mr
Kun­stmann said: “It was very
well made by Wagner, who used
to be royal clockmakers, with
inge­nious mechanics, de­signed
to last centuries if looked after.
“To neglect it, or replace it with
a digital unit which will last 10
years before being thrown away,
would be shameful.”
Untergunther’s theory is that
the clock was sabotaged in the
1960s by an employee bored
with winding it, then neglected.

arrive on different days to
empty different bins in the
hamlet, often having to cross
over the border several times.
“The borders might have
made sense at the time of the
Revolution [when France was
divided into departments] but
they do not always do so now,”
Mr Ruanlt said. “Unfortunately,

for us the change will not lead
to any reduction in taxes.”
The consolidation of the commune into Grand-Fougeray
had to be agreed at national
government level and involved
a land swap of 2,000m2 of
communal land outside the
hamlet so that Mouais would
not lose out.

New drivers
swear to be
responsible
PEOPLE who pass their driving
tests are now required to sign a
“Charter of the responsible
driver” online before they are
issued with a certificate allowing
them to take to the roads.
Candidates will be asked to
read safety advice and to watch a
YouTube video (tinyurl.com/
y743tclf) which includes a
reminder that drivers are three
times more likely to die in a road
accident in their first two years.
It also recommends downloading a Mode Conduite app which
puts your phone out of action
and responds for you to people
who text or call.
The latest accident statistics
show a year-on-year drop in
deaths (down 44 in October,
2018, compared to 2017), possibly linked to the lowering of the
speed limit on secondary roads.
However, the total number of
accidents was up 5.5%, as was
the number of pedestrian deaths.
The government hopes these
will be reduced by measures
including the possibility of drivers being fined if they are seen
on camera not respecting pedestrians’ right to cross the road.
In theory, pedestrians always
have the right of way.

France has taken action to protect the rights
of Britons living here in the event of no deal
with a new law allowing it to bring in safeguard
measures quickly.
It comes as the UK – finally – issues no-deal
planning advice for Britons living in the EU.
France’s Ministry of the Interior has also
created advice pages for British residents, with
information relating to both a deal and a
no-deal. This is in six sections: residency, travel,
integration, driving licences, elections, and
applying for French nationality.
Connexion has translated the sections, with
verification by the British Community
Committee of France. The translations are on
our website, or email news@connexion
france.com to have the links sent to you.
The British no-deal planning paper states that,
in that event, the UK wishes to continue to pay
an uprated state pension to eligible Britons living
in the EU. This and other matters which the UK
has control over would be subject to reciprocity

(ie. EU pensioners would need to continue to
receive their full pensions in the UK).
The UK also says that, as previously stated, it
would aim for healthcare arrangements for its
state pensioners in the EU to continue to
operate via reciprocal agreements, whether with
the EU as a whole or individual member states.
The same would apply to other ‘social security coordination’ matters, such as the right to
claim ‘exported’ disability benefits in France or
benefit from pension aggregation.
In a no-deal, Britain would continue to seek
agreements with EU states to give Britons the
right to vote and stand in local elections, as it
will also do in the case of a deal. EU citizens in
the UK will be able to do so, it says.
Also relevant – as France has previously stated
it will look closely at how its citizens are treated
– is that the paper confirms that the UK would
wish to maintain most of the benefits of the
draft withdrawal agreement for EU citizens
settled in Britain before Brexit day. “They will be

able to stay and carry on with their lives broadly
as now,” it says. “They will continue to be able to
work, study, and access benefits and services in
the UK on the same basis after we exit the EU.”
Rights would, however, be subject to any
future UK legal changes also affecting Britons.
This means the same rules and application
process for qualifying to stay will apply as in the
case of the withdrawal agreement going ahead.
EU citizens would be allowed to leave the UK
for up to five years without losing the status –
the same as under the deal.
There are differences: in the event of no-deal,
there would be no transition period and those
living in the UK before Brexit would have to
apply for ‘settled status’ by the end of 2020 (in the
event of a deal, there would be a grace period
until the end of June 2021).
There are also more restrictions than under the
deal regarding EU citizens bringing family to the
UK (see the full UK paper: tinyurl.com/y93optje).
The French Interior Ministry’s new site for

British teachers and hospital
workers can keep their jobs
THERE is good news for British
teachers and others who are
fonctionnaires in France as the
government and MPs have backed
an amendment to the new Brexit
law to allow them to keep this
special status afterwards.
This status is normally – by a law
called the Loi le Pors – reserved for
French and EU/EEA citizens.
When we speak of a fonctionnaire, technically this refers to a
fonctionnaire titulaire – a person
who works in la fonction publique
(public service), with a special
civil servant status.
It applies to 1,715 Britons out of
a total 5,115 working for the
national state, local government
or public hospitals. Many of them
teach English in state schools and
private ones under contract.
Britons in hundreds of other
professions, such as nurses, psychologists and hospital managers,
are potentially affected by the loss
of the status too.
A titulaire has high job security
and a clearly-defined pay structure based on seniority and time
in the post.
Other public sector workers are
contractuels, on less secure work
contracts with a salary which is,
in theory, negotiated with the
employer, who is meant to consider qualifications and experience. In practice, it is often “take
it or leave it”. They sometimes
take exams to ‘titularise’.
The French Brexit law gives the
government powers to sort out
problems that would arise if there
is no-deal, but a Foreign Affairs
Ministry source said the same
would apply if there is a deal.
tons
It would not apply to Bri­
coming to France in future, but
the law says it would cover those
already working as fonctionnaires,
plus stagiaires in a first year after
taking fonctionnaire exams.
The Brexit law says the government should aim to take measures
to maintain the ‘“conditions of
status and employment they have

maintain the status
of French fonctionnaires.”
An
Interior
Ministry spokesman
said
the
expected effect is
protection for those
w it h
the
status before Brexit,
in the case of
no-deal, or before
the end of the transition period if
there is a deal.It had
previously
been
feared that, due to
France’s strict rules,
the fonctionnaires
might lose the status, with or without
a deal.
On the other side
of the Channel the
issue is less significant as there are few
comparable posts
that can be held
Lecturer Melanie Hills welcomed
only by a British or
the government’s new policy
EU citizen.
Melanie Hills, a
now” and “without any barriers
single mother of two who teaches
linked to nationality”.
Europe Minister Nathalie English in a higher education
Loiseau previously said British engineering school in Hautetitulaires would not be able to Pyrénées said: “This is really
remain so “by definition” and it good news. Fingers crossed it
had been thought they would goes through.
“Nobody would accept moving
have to move – where possible –
to be a contractuel.
to contractuel contracts.
“To work very hard to have this
These are often temporary, but
even where they are not, they are status and then have it taken away
considered less secure. Some would be a disaster – hopefully,
senior public sector posts may now it won’t come to that.”
She has been trying to apply for
not be held by contractuels.
The law has now been voted French nationality but it is
through by MPs before going to a proving difficult. She is also
mixed senators’ and MPs’ com- concerned it may be too late
mittee for final review. No signif- before Brexit or the end of the
transition period.
icant changes were expected.
Ms Hills, 51, said she worked as
Germany has also passed a law
a contractuel before passing a
to protect its equivalent workers.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry CAPES French teaching qualificasource said: “The take-home on tion, a masters degree, and written
this is that the government’s and oral exams to become a stagiposition has evolved and it aire, then the one year’s experisupports Britons being able to ence to ‘titularise’. “You can

imagine how it felt to be told ‘you
can be a contractuel’ – you work
all these years and think you have
a job for life, then have to go back
to square one.”
She said job insecurity is part of
the problem. “I live in a rural area
and there are a lot of contractuel
teachers. I’d probably have been
like them, running round looking
for bits of work.
“There are very few who have a
CDI [permanent contract]. Plus
my salary would go down – in
theory, a contractuel salary is
negotiable, but in reality you get
what you get, and if you’re not
happy, there are plenty of
others looking for work.”
One kind of public service work
that cannot be done by a contractuel is being agrégé, a highly-qualified subject teacher. One reader,
who asked to be anonymous, said
her son had just passed the exam
for this. “What a nightmare if,
after seven years of study, he is
told he can’t take up the job he’s
worked so hard for,” she said.
Another reader, working in an
allied health profession in a
hospital, said she had been planning to ‘titularise’ but Brexit might
take away the possibility.
She said: “As a contractuel, the
pension is slightly less generous
but also the big thing is that for
titulaires, if their job disappears,
they’re offered another elsewhere,
and if they move to another area
they are prioritised for vacancies.
Whereas if I had to move, I would
have to compete for a job.
“For the titulaires, a lot of job
progression happens via internal
competitions and even someone
without the baccalauréat can do
well – but if they lost the status,
they could then find themselves a
contractuel with no transferable
qualifications.”
Another reader said he feared
changing status could have halved
his salary. “There is no way I
would accept the humiliation.
I would walk away,” he said.

Britons is at tinyurl.com/MinistryPrepares. By
and large, it contains no surprises compared to
what we have reported in recent editions.
One point of uncertainty is that it states in the
section about Séjour (residency rights) that
where Britons hold a carte de séjour obtained as
EU citizens before Brexit day, they will need to
replace this with a different card (as yet not
defined) after the end of the transition period if a
deal is reached (with a grace period until at least
July 2021).
An Interior Ministry source said: “Contacts in
the minister’s office confirm it is worth getting a
carte now because it will simplify the process for
obtaining a new card.” In the case of no-deal, the
site says cards obtained before Brexit would have
to be exchanged afterwards, according to a
calendar that would be clarified in due course.
The site also contains tips on applying for
French nationality, including clarifications for
situations such as people who work cross-border
in Monaco or Switzerland.

Consular service gears
up to give carte help
STAFFING levels have been
“significantly” increased at
the British consular service to
give extra help to Britons
living in France during the
Brexit process.
It expects to spend more
time helping with carte de
séjour application issues as
these become obligatory.
This means more focus on
residents rather than visitors
and comes after years of the
consular service being
slimmed down in Europe,
with investment further afield.
Olaf Henricson-Bell, head
of politics and communication at the British Embassy
Paris, said: “We are expecting an increase in inquiries
and requests for assistance
and in the complexity of
some of our consular cases,
due to Brexit, so we are
increasing capacity.
“That includes both our

core consular capacity and
call-handling and people
working on policy areas
related to British citizens.”
The embassy has also been
working to improve the ways
it keeps Britons informed, he
said, including working with
mairies. The ambassador
recently spoke at a conference of mayors.
It is also working with the
French government to help
it communicate clearly to
the British community, he
said. Outreach meetings will
continue next year (see
tinyurl.com/yb22ay3u) and it
will hold regular discussions
with representatives of
British in Europe groups.
The UK advises checking
for Brexit updates at tinyurl.
com/travellingAndLiving
tinyurl.com/LivingFrance
and tinyurl.com/
FranceTravelAdvice.

Shindler appeal

or loan, or was sacked or not
allowed to register to vote,
due to being British.
Ideally, you should have
proof in writing. If this applies
to you, let us know at news@
connexionfrance.com.

More Brexit updates

FRENCH barrister Julien
Fouchet has appealed against
the dismissal of his case for
13 Britons in the EU, including veteran Harry Shindler.
He argues that Britons are
already impacted by Brexit, contrary to the view of
General Court of the EU
judges in rejecting his case.
He had argued that the
Britons, including Mr Shindler, 97, are badly affected
by the referendum decision
in which they had no vote
because they had been outside the UK over15 years.
The court said the case
was inadmissible as Brexit
has not happened yet and
the mere opening of Brexit
negotiations had not affected
their rights.
Mr Fouchet is appealing
to the European Court of
Justice and is interested in
gathering more evidence to
bolster his case – for example, anyone who has been
refused a job, home rental

Register to vote
ANOTHER referendum or
snap general election is
possible so you should check
you are registered to vote in
the UK if you wish to do so.
Britons who have been
living outside the UK less
than 15 years may register at
gov.uk/register-to-vote.
You can send a scanned
copy of the form by email as
long as all parts are visible
and the signature is clear.
If you have previously registered from abroad, you
must renew annually to
remain registered.
You need to make a
separate application, opting
for a choice of a postal or
proxy vote, unless you can
vote in person in the UK.

The Connexion

January 2019

Ring-fence our rights
now, say campaigners
CAMPAIGNING group British in Europe has
renewed calls for ring-fencing of the citizens’ rights
part of the draft withdrawal agreement as political
chaos in the UK gave rise to renewed uncertainty.
With British MPs unlikely to vote in favour of the
negotiated deal and the vote being put off by Prime
Minister Theresa May, and with the EU saying no
other deal is available, it is looking more likely than
ever that we will see either Britain crashing out
with no deal or, alternatively, no Brexit at all.
This comes as the European Court of Justice said
that Britain may, until Brexit day, cancel Brexit if it
decides to do so, according to its own constitutional procedures (eg. an MPs’ vote or another referendum, also known as a “People’s Vote”).
In another twist, an amendment was passed by
the UK parliament giving MPs the right to a final
say on how the UK should proceed if the Brexit
deal is voted down.
No-Brexit would retain the status quo for Britons
in France and ensure future generations could
continue to come to the country freely to work or
retire, as they have for the last 26 years since the
full EU single market came into force.
No-deal would mean British people in EU
countries become technically illegal immigrants
on March 30 unless emergency laws are put into
place by the countries where they live.
France and Germany are so far said to be the only
countries to have created legislation to deal with
this. Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau’s new Brexit
law is currently going through final stages.
A source in the Europe Ministry confirmed to
Connexion that Mrs Loiseau aims to be “very
protective” of Britons’ rights in the case of no-deal
and she “has a strong will to protect Britons in
France”. Even so, British in Europe points out that

the draft deal, while imperfect, is better for British
expatriates than having to fall back on such help,
not least because it contains clear guarantees of the
rights continuing for life.
What is more, it covers a raft of areas in its 600
pages, and individual countries seeking to replicate
it would be time-consuming.
For Britons here, it would require laws to be
passed both in the UK and France, plus bilateral
deals being agreed between the UK and France, or
the UK and EU, on matters such as pension
up-rating and aggregation, healthcare and social
security.
If the draft deal is accepted by UK MPs, the final
hurdle would be a debate and vote by the European
Parliament which is not now expected before
February or March due to formalities required to
present it to the parliament, including translation
into different languages.
However, it is thought the MEPs would not, at
this stage, object to the deal, despite the fact that it
falls short of their previously expressed wishes,
including full continuing free movement rights to
live and work across the EU and voting rights.
The parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy
Verhofstadt told Connexion: “The withdrawal
agreement and political declaration [on the future
UK/EU relationship] are the only and best
agreements possible, considering the positions of
the UK government and the Good Friday
Agreement.
“I believe this framework provides for the
possibility to establish in the future a really close
relationship between the EU and the UK.
“The basis of this would be an ‘association agreement’, as the European Parliament has proposed
from day one.”

Lord Lawson leaving France
FORMER Vote Leave chairman
Lord Lawson is selling up in
France to move back to the UK,
six months after revealing to
Connexion he was applying for a
carte de séjour – a card which
proves you are a legal and stable
resident of France.
Lord Lawson, Chancellor of
the Exchequer under Margaret
Thatcher, bought and renovated
a 19th century country mansion
in the Gers in the south-west in
2001. He lives there and travels
back for House of Lords debates.
But he recently told a BBC
Radio 5 interviewer that he was
returning to live in the UK.
When Connexion contacted
him to ask why, he said: “My
house is on the market. It’s well
known that I live here and when
I’ve sold it I’ll be moving back
to where my children and
grandchildren live.”
Asked what had changed since
spring when he was applying for
a residency card, he said: “That
was not with a view to staying but
to make sure I have medical coverage while I’m here.
“French bureaucracy is pretty
slow so it [the card] hasn’t come
through yet.”
Under British law, members
of the House of Lords must be
UK tax-domiciled.
When Connexion asked him if
this was a factor in his decision
to return to the UK, Lord
Lawson said: “I am tax resident
in the UK.” Had this caused

“

‘Brexit is
currently
a complete
mess’
Lord Lawson

problems with his French residency application? “No, not at
all,” he said.
Lord Lawson, 86, added that
he considers Brexit is currently
“a complete mess”, with the exit
deal on the table “disastrous”.
A French Interior Ministry
source said that tax residency
abroad would usually block
someone from being considered an habitual resident of
France, which is necessary for
obtaining a carte de séjour.
One tax specialist working
with Britons in France said the
French do not separate the
concepts of residence and domicile, as the UK does, and Lord
Lawson probably meets French
residency criteria through
having his main home here.
However, he said there are
dispensations which British
statesmen can use so they are
still deemed by the UK to be
domiciled there for tax.
“Having your cake and eating
it is one of the great joys of
being a politician,” he said.
The prefecture of the Gers
said it had no record of an
application for a residency card

News 5

connexionfrance.com

from Lord Lawson.
British residents at the time of
Brexit will need to meet the
same stable and legal residency
criteria required for an EU citizen permanent residency carte
de séjour to stay living here
under the terms of the draft
agreement. The card is expected to simplify proving the right
to benefit from the agreement.
After Brexit, Britons would
either have to apply for visas
and non-EU citizen residency
cards to move here or be
restricted to staying for no
more than 90 days out of every
180 days as visitors.
The draft Brexit agreement
includes the right for British state
pensioners living in France to
continue having French healthcare paid for by the UK as now
via the EU’s S1 form scheme.
A permanent residency card
(which EU citizens may apply
for if they can prove five years’
continuous, legal, residency)
also guarantees the right to be
covered under the French Puma
health system for those who do
not qualify in other ways such as
by work or holding an S1 form.
Occasional visitors, such as
holiday home-owners, currently
use a European Ehic card for
healthcare they need in France.
Under the draft deal this will
continue during any transition
period but will be subject to
separate negotiations about the
ongoing relationship yet to start.

‘Sausage Street’ may Pay-out of
change name - but €1,000 as
not to please vegans licence is
RUE de la Saucisse may be
chan­ging its name but it is not
because vegans demanded it.
Animal rights group Peta had
written demanding the street in
Issigeac in the Dordogne be
renamed Rue Soy-cisse, a
reference to soya beans and a
vegetarian sausage brand.
But mayor Jean-Claude
Castagner said: “The name is
relatively modern and came
about because in this 15m-long
alley, there used to live a slightly
eccentric old lady, who looked
like a sausage, being tall and
round and having a stoop.
“She looked after her mother
in often difficult circumstances
and was a real character.
“She liked her nickname La
Saucisse but I felt it’s demeaning
and I want the street to reflect
her real name, Suzanne Tessier.”
She died in the 1960s. Peta has

also called for Rue aux Fromages
in Caen to be changed to Rue
aux Faux Mages, and for Rue de
la Boucherie in Limoges’s old
quarter to become Rue de la
Bouche qui crie.
Peta spokeswoman Anissa
Putois said: “We send out many
messages and videos showing
the horrible treatment of
animals used for meat or dairy
production, and people do not
like watching them.
“By mixing them with lighter
items like this, we hope people
will think about how we treat
animals and act on it.”
To change the name of a
street, a formal letter to the
mairie will get the request on
the council’s agenda. If the
council agrees, the request is
sent to the prefecture. Resi­dents
then have to notify their contacts of their change of address.

Déja vu as Puma bills arrive...

CONNEXION is again hearing of isolated cases of state pensioners
who are due “free” healthcare in France under the European S1 scheme
being sent Cotisation subsidiaire maladie (Puma) bills by Urssaf. This is
likely to be because you are not known to them as having a French
salary or pension. You should show them a copy of your S1 form.

delayed

A MAN whose driving licence
was suspended for drink-driving
has won €1,000 damages plus
€50 per day of further delay after
he had waited six months for a
new one to be issued.
The Parisian hired an avocat
and won a case in the tribunal
administratif.
The lawyer said slow delivery of
a new licence from the national
ANTS agency meant his client
had risked fines for driving without a licence, even though he was
entitled to drive.
Peter Adams from Léran,
Ariège, who – like many other
readers – has been waiting for a
French licence from Nantes
prefecture, flagged this up.
In his case, the delay is (so far)
four months. He said he is looking to sue too, especially as it is
now possible to apply to the
administrative courts without a
lawyer via citoyens.telerecours.fr.
Like the Parisian, he lost his
UK licence due to a (two-month)
suspension and applied for a
French licence but has not even
received an acknowledgement.

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A DAMNING report on the
privatisation of ToulouseBlagnac Airport has criticised
the Chinese-led board for
draining reserves by demanding a €40million payout from
€10million profits.
The Cour des Comptes state
auditors said the site – which
Occitanie region claims is strategically vital because of its links
to Airbus – has been left in the
hands of an “unstable” board
with links to the Chinese state.
It called for reforms in foreign
investments, which has happened with privatisations at
other airports such as Nice.
A spokesman for Toulouse
airport, which has UK flights
with Easy­
Jet, Ryanair, British
Airways and Flybe, said: “We
have absolutely no comment to
make.”
Attempts to speak to representatives of the Chinese shareholders also failed – not
surprisingly, as even the Cour
des Comptes was unable to find
any physical trace of their
holding company in France.
The French state sold a 49.9%
stake in the airport to the
Chinese consortium Casil
Europe, which had bid €308mil-

Photo: Benjamin Pasquier CC BY-SA 4.0

Chinese criticised over €40m
claim on €10m airport profit

Occitanie’s Carole Delga
said Toulouse was unique
lion. It is made up of Shandong
Hi-Speed, owned by the
Chinese state, and British
Vir­gin Islands firm Fried­mann
Pacific AG, which is owned and
operated by a Hong Kong businessman.
The consortium committed to
an option to buy the state’s last
10% of shares by April 2019,
and joined it in a confidential
shareholders’ pact.
However, local representatives
on the 15-seat board were upset
and wrote to the prime minister,
asking the state not to sell its
remaining shares. Last February

the government cancelled the
sale option and maintained a
state interest in the airport,
although details of the deal with
Casil Europe remained secret.
The Cour des Comptes condemned this arrangement, saying governance was “unstable
and ambiguous”.
The board has six Chinese
members, two from the French
state, four from Toulouse
Chambre de Com­merce (CCI),
and one each from Toulouse
Mét­ropole, Haute-Garonne and
Occi­­tanie local authorities.
The councils and Toulouse
CCI hold the remaining shares.
Difficulties started at the
board’s first meeting as some
Chinese directors did not speak
French or English and the need
for translation slowed progress.
But what most upset local representatives were the Chinese
demands, backed by the French
state, for big dividends, even if
it meant raiding reserves.
In 2016 the Chinese wanted
€40million in dividends from a
net profit of around €10million.
After a boardroom battle, they
accepted a €20million dividend,
with €15million coming from
reserves. In 2017 a similar

battle resulted in a €7.8million
dividend, with €1.5million
from reserves.
Occitanie region president
Carole Delga replied to
questions with a statement
emphasising the unique nature
of Toul­ouse-Blagnac. She wrote:
“It is used by Airbus, especially
for all its test flights.
“It is thus a question of
national sovereignty, and these
are words not used lightly.
“It is not just a simple commercial airport like Nice. That
is why it is essential that the
state remains a shareholder in
this airport, because there is a
national dimension.
“Public shareholders must
remain in the majority.”
Despite their criticism, the
auditors recognised that revenue, profits and passenger
numbers at the airport have
soared as Casil Europe targeted
more long-haul flights
The number of passengers has
risen from 7.4million in 2014 to
9.2million in 2017, a 23% rise
when overall French provincial
air passenger numbers rose
15.9%. Overall sales figures are
also up 10.5% to €142.3million
in 2017.

EasyJet and Ryanair expand in France

RYANAIR and EasyJet are opening new
French bases and routes, including to Dublin
and Manchester, creating hundreds of jobs.
The new base at Nantes will be EasyJet’s
seventh in France, which the airline says is
its second largest market after the UK.
Ryanair said its new sites at Bordeaux
and Marseille are the “first phase of developments” after earlier saying it was “in
talks with several regional airports”.
Ryanair’s decision follows its win in the
French appeal court over claims it broke
employment law by employing 127 staff at
Marseille on Irish labour contracts – and
its decision to pay the French government
€525,000 to free a plane impounded at
Bordeaux over illegal subsidies.
Employees at Bordeaux and Marseille
will be on French contracts and it is investing €200million in each, with two Boeing

737-800 jets apiece, and 16 routes from
Bordeaux and 11 from Marseille. Both
have twice-a-week Manchester flights.
Ryanair chief commercial officer David
O’Brien said: “Our growth will create 120
jobs and deliver 1.1million customers a year
at Bordeaux and 2.4million at Marseille.”
For EasyJet, its decision to base three
A320 aircraft at Nantes will create 100 jobs
on French contracts and open up new
routes to Bastia, Bilbao, Copenhagen,
Dubrovnik, Rome, Granada, Marrakech

and Tenerife this summer. A spokesman
said: “We’ve had a long relationship with
Nantes, starting 10 years ago, and by opening the base we will reinforce our local
presence and accelerate development,
which means more flights at better times –
and 400,000 extra passengers in 2019.”
EasyJet said France was its second largest
market after the UK despite low-cost
carriers having only 30% of the market,
compared to 47% for the rest of Europe.
On-going train strikes in 2018 and the
disputes at Air France boosted EasyJet’s
French income by €20million.
Asked about a no-deal Brexit, the airline
said it was confident flights would
continue as the UK and EU had said an
agreement would be signed. “We have
taken steps already, with HQs in Austria,
Switzerland and the UK,” it said.

Sports certificates might end

Check your winter route

Polluting cruise liner fined

SPORTS medical certificates which are
needed to join clubs and associations may
be ended after an MP said in a report that
they do not prevent heart attacks and cuts
could save €100million a year.
Perrine Goulet (Nièvre) said a certificat de
non contre-indication à la pratique sportive
should only be for high-intensity sports.

DRIVERS can find out more about road
conditions on their journey this winter as
the traffic agency Bison Futé is creating
up-to-the-minute road-weather maps.
Www.bison-fute.gouv.fr has a Routes en
Hiver section with zoomable maps of
France and main winter black spots, giving
green, amber, red and black warnings.

A CRUISE liner captain and his bosses
have been fined €100,000 for polluting the
air in Marseille by using heavy-sulphur oil.
The fine on the skipper of the Azura and
US owner Carnival is the first such court
case in France. It comes after heavy local
criticism of poor air quality with plumes of
black smoke seen over the port area.

The Puma
system
explained

FRANCE’S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER
Hors serie No 17/ special publication from

herbalists who treat health
problems with plants have been
banned as a profession in
France since 1942 but may soon
regain official status.
This follows months of
consultations into the role of
herboristes at the Sénat, leading
to senators making 39 recommendations in a report, including calls for law changes.
A further consultation period
has started.
Among the justifications for
working to bring herboristes
into the modern health system
is the agricultural potential of
growing plants for health
purposes and the boost it could
bring to rural areas.
The Vichy regime banned
herboristes in 1942 under pressure from pharmacists, who
wanted to get rid of competitors
who used what they saw as
unscientific charlatan practices.
Despite the ban, many rural
areas continued to have “wise
women” to whom locals would
turn for remedies made from
plants.
In 2004 the law was amended
to allow the few stores still selling herbs, often under the guise
of being tisane shops, to again
promote the health benefits, as
long as it was done under the
guidance of a pharmacist.
Even before then, herboristes
were getting round the law.
The private Ecole Lyonnaise
de Plantes Médicin­ales et des
Savoirs Naturels was founded
40 years ago, with faculty staff
including doctors, botanists
and pharmacists. The school

has had record numbers of
students in the past few years
and is highly selective, with
student fees of €1,800 a year, or
€2,268 if financed by training
groups or companies.
Students are a mix of people
with farming projects, health
professionals, cooks, and those
seeking work with organic food.
Deputy director Françoise
Pillet said: “We do not, and
have not ever, issued formal
diplomas. That is how we have
managed to exist legally, but it is
the quality of the work we do
which is why we have survived.”
There are 1,200 students, with
600 doing three-year distancelearning courses. Students also
meet in local groups for lessons
and practical demos.
Founder and director Patrice
de Bonneval had mixed feelings
about bringing herboristes back
into the legal framework. “On
one level it is good, especially if
it improves job prospects.
“But when you look at the
work we and others are doing, it
is miles away from a university
science course, such as ones
pharmacists follow.
“Herboristes know plants,
their virtues and dangers, but
they also trained from the start
to marry that with the people
they give the plants to, and that
sharing outlook is a completely
different spirit to what you get
with a university course.”
He said it was gratifying to see
renewed interest in plant medicine, driven partly by people’s
wish to be more éco but also by
a more open philosophy of life.

Car premiums rise
to cover uninsured

MOTORISTS face rises in insurance premiums as MPs say they
need to pay more to cover the rising costs of treating victims of
uninsured and hit-and-run drivers.
They want insurers’ contributions to the Fonds de garantie des
assurances obligatoires de dommages to increase from 12% to 25%,
which could amount to an extra €10 on policies.
Rising care costs for victims are part of the reason for the call
for extra cash but a large part of the problem is the increasing
number of uninsured cars on the road. It coincides with the
launch of the fichier des véhicules assurés motor insurance register
this month, which gives police details of whether a car is insured
or not. Uninsured drivers face fines of up to €3,750.
Drivers who want to keep costs down can use the loi Hamon
that allows them to cancel insurance at any point after the first
year and sign up for new cheaper cover elsewhere.

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The Connexion

January 2019

Eating organic means reduced
exposure to pesticide residues
cides – and a 34% reduction for
post-menopausal breast cancer.
There are limits on the work
by Emmanuelle Kesse and the
team at Université Paris 13 and
the Institut National de la Santé
et de la Recherche Médicale
(Inserm).
It does not show organic food
is the direct cause of the reduced
risk as it is accepted that people
who eat more organic food have
healthier overall lifestyles and
eating habits. The findings on
lymphoma were also a small
part of the overall result, so may
not be statistically significant.
Dr Kesse said the “likeliest
explanation” for finding a 25%
reduction in overall cancer risk
for organic food-eaters was “the

presence of synthetic pesticide
residues, more common and at
higher doses in foods from conventional agriculture”.
Research agency Inra said the
results suggested a diet rich in
organic foods could limit cancers – but said it was not possible to identify cause and effect
from a single study. It said other
explanations included potentially higher levels of micronutrients in organic foods.
Dr Kesse study ran from May
2009 to November 2016 with
69,000 volunteers – average age
44, with 78% women – listed on
the NutriNet-Santé website as
ready to do food research.
A total of 1,340 cancers
appeared, including breast
cancer (34%), prostate cancer
(13%), skin cancer (10%) and
bowel cancer (7%).
There were fewer cases in
people who ate mainly organic
food – 269 against 360 in those
eating the least organic food.
The numbers involved in the
lymphoma findings were small.
Fifteen people who ate the least
organic food had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, against two
among the high-organic eaters.

Blind
rider’s
double
Olympic
dream
Photo: Verity Smith

Photo: Ken Seaton

Organic food linked to
25% drop in cancer risk
PUBLIC health advice is to be
updated to make consumers
aware of the advantages of local
seasonal foods – and push the
organic message.
The new advice comes after a
well-publicised French study
suggested people who eat mainly
organic food have a lower risk
of cancer than those who eat
little bio.
Raphaëlle Ancellin, prevention project manager at the
Institut National du Cancer,
said: “We cannot make recommendations based on this study
alone, we need more research.
“However, the Haut Conseil
de la Santé Publique is amending its diet guidance in 2019,
expanding the present ‘eat more
fruit and veg and cut processed
food, red meat and charcuterie’
to a more complete message: eat
more fruit, veg and whole
grains, be environmentally
aware and buy local, buy seasonal and possibly organic.”
The study, of nearly 70,000
people, found a 76% reduction
in lymphoma blood cancer risk
– one of the most common
cancers in farm workers who
have a higher exposure to pesti-

News 7

connexionfrance.com

Verity and her beloved horse Szekit before it fell ill

BLIND dressage rider Verity Smith’s dreams of
becoming the first rider to compete at both the
Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2020
have been revived after being dashed when her
beloved horse fell ill.
Despite being blind, Nîmes-based Verity, 45, is
ranked 12th in France at Elite Able-Bodied level.
Her only concession is the use of a team of nine
“Scoobies”, who call out the letters positioned
around the arena.
In 2017, Verity and her horse Szekit were
selected for the French dressage Paralympic
squad and had a realistic prospect of competing
in both games in Tokyo, but those hopes seemed
over when the horse fell seriously ill.
Verity, who is British but has lived most of her

life in France after moving here as a teenager, has
spent many months by Szekit’s side at a clinic in
St Etienne. Due to their bond, Verity felt her
career as a rider was finished. Then her trainer
said she had found a new horse: a 10-year-old
Hanoverian mare called Daizy. Former Team GB
rider Verity said: “At first I didn’t want to think
about it because it felt like being married to
someone and taking a boyfriend.”
Valuable training time has been lost so they
must work hard to be selected for the national
team on February 4, but Daizy is already competing at Grand Prix level and Verity is confident.
The only obstacle left is finance – to buy Daizy,
Verity needs to raise €200,000 by the end of this
month. To support her, visit bit.ly/2TYDqJf.

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contact us to arrange a personal evaluation
(which is provided free of charge and without obligation).

Deal, no deal, no Brexit?
2019 will be a big year for
politics, tax and free glasses
This will be a significant year for Britons in France
– from the start of a new tax system to (it is hoped)
the long-awaited end of the 15-year voting rule for
British elections, and a fast-approaching Brexit day
(assuming it is not all called off). We look at some of
the changes in store for France this year
Some items, such as certain health and
finance matters, were subject to a vote
on 2019 budget laws on going to press,
but are unlikely to change significantly.

Health
full reimbursement of a range of
quality glasses, hearing aids and
dental prosthetics (crowns/bridges)
will be phased in from 2019 to 2021.
Carried out via state funding and
top-up insurance, it is called 100%
santé and is open to all residents.
LOWER earners will see the end of
the Aide au Paiement d’une Com­plé­
mentaire Santé (ACS) that helps them
pay for a top-up health policy. From
November 1, those qualifying will
move to the CMU-C, which offers
‘free’ healthcare to low earners.
Depending on age and means, they
will have to pay a monthly contribution of no more than €30.

ed to support GPs and specialists in
areas with a shortage of doctors. They
will assist by welcoming patients, taking blood pressure, making appoint­
ments with specialists, billing etc.
A THREE-YEAR experiment starts in
which some A&Es will be paid for
sending patients who are not
emergency cases to see a GP instead.
TRIALS of flu jabs in pharmacies are
being extended to two further regions
in winter 2018-2019 (Hauts-deFrance and Occitanie) with a view to
the measure being rolled out everywhere in winter 2019-2020.
PRICES for a cigarette pack rise by
50 centimes in March and
then again in
November.

January 2019

Education
and training
SCHOOLING will become obligatory for all from the age of three from
the 2019 rentrée in September.
CONTINUOUS training credits in
the Compte personnel de formation
(CPF) that employees, jobseekers and
self-employed people now build up
will this year consist of a value in
euros rather than an amount of hours.
During the second half of the year, an
app will be launched that will allow
credit-holders to manage purchases of
training, which can include online
learning but must consist of approved
courses leading to a certificate.

Sport
THE TOUR de France starts from
Brus­sels, the capital of Belgium (and
the EU). The Grand Départ will be
on Satur­day July 6 and the route will
cross north-eastern France before
heading south-west to the Pyrénées.
The closing stages will be in the
Alps before the riders fly to the
Ile-de-France for the traditional finale along the ChampsElysées in Paris on July 28.
PRICES of a national
hunting licence are set
to drop – though on
going to press there
was debate about
the final fee.
President Macron
had spoken of halving
it from around €400 to
€200, but it might end up
at €210 to €240, some
sources said. Most
hunters do not have
this type of licence
but rather hunt
under a departmental licence.

DAILY accommodation fees in
the Forfait journalier hospitalier
that helps cover the cost of a
hospital stay rise from €18 to €20.

Photo: letour.fr

EARLY diagnosis, monitoring and
care of children who may be autistic
or have other developmental issues is
to be set up and reimbursed.
PLANS to offer medically-assisted
conception to all women, including
same-sex couples, will be debated this
year as part of a bioethics law.

The Connexion

THE FIRST posts will be created for
assistants médicaux, who will be fund-

Photo: A.S.O.

GOLFERS face a
new set of competition rules as
new international
modifications are brought in.
Details can be found at tinyurl.
com/y8dkeeqs (French) or
tinyurl.com/yawye5tw (R&A,
English).
They set a new time restriction for searching for a lost
ball, down from five to three
minutes, and a player dropping a ball after it lands in an
unplayable place (dropper la
balle) should let it fall from
knee height instead of the
shoulder.

Tour de France will start from Brussels and have three finishes above 2,000m

THE FIFA Women’s World
Cup will be held in nine cities
from June 7 to July 7. It opens
in Paris and the final is at the
Stade des Lumières in Lyon
suburb Décines-Charpieu.

Home and daily life
THE tax credit scheme for eco-friendly
home improvements will now include
50% against the cost of removing an
oil-fired boiler and a credit of 30%
towards the cost of the labour (including VAT) for putting in alternatives,
such as a wood-burner or heat pump.
AID for low-income families to pay
energy bills sees the cheque énergie
rise from an average €150 to an average €200 (the amount depends on
income, family size and energy use).
Minimum and maximum amounts
are also rising, from €48 to €76 and
from €227 to €277. Those eligible
should be sent a cheque in the post.
NEW ‘one-stop shops’ will help those
who employ a home worker, such as a
cleaner or gardener, with social security fund Urssaf managing payments.
From March parents who pay childminders can use pajemploi.urssaf.fr
and others can use cesu-urssaf.fr from
June, to opt not only to have social
charges paid out of their bank account
but also the salary. At-source tax for
workers in the home is deferred a year
to 2020 when the levies can then also
be taken automatically via these sites.
A NEW law will be passed to allow
faster removal of offensive (racist,
sexist, homophobic…) material
from social media.
families with a disabled child
with the AEEH education benefit will
see the Complément mode de garde
rise by 30%; a gain of up to €140 for
families employing childcare workers.
PRICES of red stamps rise 10 centimes
to €1.05, while the green stamp rises
eight centimes to 88 centimes. La Poste
says it needs to compensate for declining volumes (a red stamp was 55
centimes in 2009). There will now be
three centimes off for those who print
stamps at home via La Poste’s website.
A 20g letter in the EU is also rising by
10 centimes to €1.30 and there will no
longer be a different price for the rest

of the world, just a single international
rate – meaning the price for the UK
should not rise after Brexit.
AN EU regulation on matrimonial
regimes comes into force on January
29, 2019. It will no longer be possible for a British person in France to
change their regime only for property in France. It will now have to
apply to their worldwide estate. The
change is not retrospective.
UNDER an EU proposal, countries
may be asked to decide by March 31 if
they wish to retain their winter time
all year round – in which case they
would change clocks for the last time
in October – or summer time (the last
change would be in March).

Transport
PLANS to raise fuel prices on January
1 by 3 centimes/litre on diesel and 6
centimes/litre on petrol – targets of
the gilets jaunes protests – have been
cancelled by the prime minister. A
temporary cap has also been set on
electricity and gas prices.
SIMILARLY, new stricter emissions
rules in the Contrôle technique (MOT)
have been suspended for six months.
A NEW law on transport will be
debated in the spring.
One measure sets stricter rules on
car-sharing payments: if a fee is set for
a single passenger then a set reduction
will apply for each extra passenger
Another plan would remove péage
barriers in favour of number plate
recognition ,with drivers billed by
direct debit. Tests are under way on
the A4 Paris-Strasbourg motorway.
Employers are already encouraged to
help staff who come to work by car or
public transport. In the new law they
will be urged to offer up to €400/year
to those using car-share or bicycle. It
may also allow lone women travellers
to ask bus drivers to request a halt
between stops for better safety.
FROM January prime à la conversion

January 2019
Work / Employment
SMALL businesses with turnover of
less than €5,000 will not have to pay
the CFE business tax from this year.
In addition, micro-entreprises with a
turnover of under €5,000 will no
longer need to have a dedicated
bank account – unless they exceed
this threshold two years in a row.

connexionfrance.com
UNLESS there is a last-minute
change due to a snap general election, an MPs’ vote or another referendum, the UK will leave the
European Union on Friday, March
29, at midnight French time.
If the Brexit deal was agreed by
British MPs in December, the last
hurdle will be a vote by MEPs in
February or March.
If a withdrawal agreement is in
place, a transition period will last
until the end of 2020, when nothing
should change in terms of rights of
Britons in France.
Britons would have until July 2021
to apply for a card proving their
right to benefit from it.
Those with EU citizen cartes de
séjour may be required to exchange
them. If a no-deal scenario looks
likely, the French government is

INCLUDED in the 2019 Finance Law,
being finalised on going to press, is a
measure replacing two income tax
credits, CICE and CITS, with a permanent six percentage point cut in the
health social charges on salaries up to
2.5 times the Smic minimum wage.
ANOTHER measure is halting social
charges on overtime from September
1, estimated to give an average €200
per year per worker (as more pay
goes into their pocket). President
Macron told gilet jaunes protestersthis will also apply to income tax.

for scrapping an old car and buying a
greener one is doubled for the 20%
lowest-income families and for workers who drive at least 60km/day to go
to work. It is up to €4,000 for buying
a low-emission diesel or petrol car,
either new or second hand (the prime
is €2,000 for other families who do
not pay tax, or €1,000 for those who
do). Amounts are higher for electric
or (new this year) hybrid cars.
THE MALUS (financial penalty)
applied to polluting cars will also now
apply to pick-ups, apart from ones
used by artisans for their work.
FROM winter 2019/2020, drivers in
some mountain areas may be obliged
by law to use winter tyres. Prefects
will list the communes affected.
4G INTERNET reception will be
available in the Lyon metro this year.
Both Easyjet and Ryanair are opening new bases in France. See page 6.

Culture and events
ELTON John will play four French
dates in Lille, Paris, Bordeaux and
Nîmes for his Farewell Yellow Brick
Road tour. The Lille event is June 18,
with Paris on June 20, Bordeaux June
22, and Nîmes on June 23
THIS year is the 350th anniversary of
the Opéra National de Paris since it
was created as the Académie Royale
de Musique by Louis XIV.

THE ACCRE scheme, which gives
reduced social charges to those starting or taking over a business under
conditions linked to age or claiming
unemployment or other welfare benefits, is to be opened to all with a sole
criteria of means (net annual income
of less than €40,000).
Renamed exonération de début
d’activité, it will be for the first year
only or for micro-entrepreneurs it may
be extended to three. As now, it will
be an exemption if your income is
under a certain level (€30,393), or
otherwise a reduction above that.
AS THE Régime Social des
Indépendants (RSI) was abolished
(with transitional arrangements) in
2018, self-em­ployed people who start
a new business this year will be covered by the Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie for sickness insurance,
as for employees. This has no effect
on social charges or their health cover.
THE LIST of types of self-employed
work requiring affiliation to Cipav for
pension cotisations is much reduced
for new businesses. Remaining sectors
include architects, ski instructors and
osteopaths. The others should join the
Sécurité Sociale des Indépendants
(which has replaced RSI).

PRIME d’activité, a top-up for
low-earning workers, is being
increased for those with work-related
incomes of 0.5-1.2 x the Smic minimum wage. There will be up to a
maximum €30 a month extra by June
for a single person on the Smic.
FOLLOWING gilets jaunes protests
President Macron promised workers
on the Smic they would get an extra
€100/month though the precise means
of doing this was not confirmed.
SENATORS will discuss the PACTE
Law in January. It includes simpler
patents procedures; creating a vetting
system and whitelist and legal framework for ICOs (‘initial coin offerings’
where people can invest in something
via a new cryptocurrency); rules for
more self-driving car experiments;
and a plan to pool public and private
expertise to advance this technology.
THE RIGHT to paid maternity leave
for self-employed women is extended to give equality with employees,
ie. a total of four months, or 16
weeks, up from 10. Maternity pay is
around €54/day. Those taking paid
maternity leave must stop work for
at least 56 days, up from 44.
THE ARPE, a benefit for certain
people aged under 28 seeking a first
job, has been abolished.
BUSINESSES with a CSE committee
representing the employees (which
from 2020 will include all those with
at least 11 employees) should now
designate one member to have
responsibility for combating sexual

A STAGE show in honour of Johnny
Hallyday is to open in Paris by the
end of the year at the Casino de Paris
music hall in the 9th arrondissement.
REPLICA 18th Century frigate the
Hermione will voyage around the
north from April to July, coinciding
with the 75th anniversary of the
Normandy Landings. She will take
part in nautical festivals from May
23-27 at Saint-Nazaire and Nantes and
in Rouen on June 7.

harassment and sexism. Employers
must also post up a text regarding the
laws on sexual harassment and refer
to these in recruitment and training.
CEILINGS for micro-entrepreneurs
will not change this year.
Micro-entre­preneurs who use the
simplified tax system, paying
monthly or three-monthly based on
turnover, are not affected by the new
at-source taxation but those declaring annually will pay instalments by
direct debit based on 2017 income
declared in 2018. Instal­ments will be
readjusted in Septem­ber after the
spring declaration of 2018’s income.
Those who start businesses during
the year can either volunteer to start
paying instalments, or wait for the
adjustment in September 2020.
SET-UP courses for people starting an
artisan business will now be optional,
with the cost falling from an average
€250 for a week’s course to €194.
SELF-EMPLOYED people who have
to close a business due to going into
receivership or bankruptcy will be
able to claim unemployment benefit.
Under certain conditions (including
having been in the job five years)
people who resign to retrain or to
start or take over a business will also
be able to claim benefit (called allocation d’aide au retour à l’emploi projet).
See also page 33 for more new tax and
money items, including the start of the
at-source tax system in France

Tax and money
A TAX on borrower’s insurance that
people take out when taking a loan to
buy a property will be extended from
January 1 on new policies. This tax, at
9%, was already applied to the guarantees for loss of job or disability and
will now also be applied to the death
insurance portion, increasing the
overall cost by around €2-3/month.
It will go towards social housing and
helps compensate for a loss of revenue
from a business tax that now applies
only to those with 50 or more
employees, compared to 20 before.

Photo: Gabbot Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

The FIFA
Women’s World
Cup will be held
this year with
the final in Lyon

AN OPTION for firms to pay impôt
sur les sociétés (corporation tax)
instead of income tax will no longer
be irreversible. A lowering of the rates
of impôt sur les sociétés under way
since 2017 will continue, with the
rates being 28% for the first €500,000
of profit and then 31%.

What’s new? 9

Politics... and Brexit

Photo: Duncan Hull - CC BY 2.0 / Banksy

The Connexion

Farewell, not
Goodbye, as Elton
John plays his last
concerts in France

THE EXIT tax on latent capital gains
of wealthy business owners leaving
France, formerly payable up to 15
years after a person left France if they
then sold shares in a French business,
will now only be payable for two to
five years (for the wealthiest). MPs

expected to pass laws to deal with
this before Brexit day, including
ones helping secure the right of
existing British residents to continue to live and work in France.
EUROPEAN elections will be held
on May 23-26. British people will not
be able to take part.
A REFERENDUM could take place
on whether or not the department of
Loire-Atlantique should join Brittany.
A BILL to end the 15-year limit on
Britons voting from abroad may
finally be passed by the UK
Parliament early this year.
British MP Sir Roger Gale has
proposed it be known as Shindler’s
Law, for campaigner Harry Shindler
who will be 98 in July.
raised this after the government proposed two years for all.
IN JANUARY complementary
pension regimes for management and
other workers will merge – to be
called Agirc-Arrco. Rights obtained
before this will be unchanged and
pension ‘point’ values will be aligned
with the Arrco ones. For most workers it will mean a small increase in
charges with no increase in pension.
A new bonus-malus will encourage
people to continue to work after they
can retire on a full pension. Those
retiring immediately receive 10% less
“complementary pension” in the first
three years (5% for those on small
pensions), up to age 67 at the most,
while those working on for two or
more years obtain 10-30% extra,
payable only in the first year.
The fusion will benefit managers’
widow/ers as a non-means-tested pension de réversion will be available from
age 55, whereas it was 60 for Agirc.
CERTAIN tabacs are to offer bitcoin
and ethereum cryptocurrencies.
BASIC salaries of fonctionnaires are
to be frozen this year (though rises
based on service will remain).
LEGAL changes will affect rights of
people living in copropriété flats,
including possible fines for syndics
who delay sending residents documents such as contracts and invoices,
and a postal vote option for people
who cannot get to a residents’ AGM.

Property
ZERO interest eco-loans will be prolonged and opened up to more projects, with people no longer needing
to do multiple kinds of renovation.
The repayment period is extended to
15 years, no matter how many works
were done and it will be for homes at
least two years old, while previously
it was for those built before 1990.
HOUSING benefits APL, ALF and
ALS will rise less than inflation. Also,
as of April, officials will use the last 12
months of income to calculate eligibility and not income two years before
based on the income tax declaration.

Shopping

GALERIES Lafayette is opening a new
store on the Champs-Elysées in spring
on the former Virgin Megastore site.
Some 300 ‘personal stylists’ are being
trained to help customers.

More French trying
to quit smoking
THE number of smokers
trying to kick the habit is
expected to soar this year as all
anti-smoking aids became
reimbursable from January 1.
Numbers had already jumped
by more than 300,000 towards
the end of last year after the
State agreed to cover up to
€150 of an individual’s cost on
just under half the aids on the
market. The cost of a pack of
20 cigarettes is set to rise to
€10 early this year.

EU-wide helpline
for victims of rape
A Europe-wide helpline
that offers victims of assault
and rape direct access to
professional support launched
in December.
The number – 116 006 – is
free to call, anonymous, and is
open seven days a week from
9h to 19h. It connects victims
to more than 130 professional
support associations.

Vital cash aid for
drought-hit farmers
Livestock farmers in the
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes are to
receive up to €2,000 in aid to
help them feed their animals
over winter after the long
summer drought wrecked
fodder supplies.
The drought, which has been
described as the worst since
2003, has seen farmers in large
swathes of the region draw on
their winter food supplies since
late summer, say reports.

4,000 tabacs now
able to sell Bitcoin
UP TO 4,000 of France’s 27,000
tabacs have been equipped
with software that allows
customers to buy either
Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrencies from January 1.
If successful, the scheme
will be rolled out to all
tabacs, but the Banque de
France has rejected claims
that it has given the plan its
backing.

Normandy bakers
accused in court of
working too much
Two bakers from Calvados in
Normandy have been summoned before
their local courts, accused of illegally
selling bread seven days per week.
Isabelle and Xavier Perret, owners of
La Boulaga bakery in the 3,800population town of Troarn, stand
accused of the “uninterrupted sale of
bread” after opening their shop every
day of the week for the past year.
The department bakers’ union (le
syndicat départemental des boulangers
du Calvados) has accused the couple of
breaching a century-old law on bread
selling.
The couple have now appeared at the
TGI (tribunal de grande instance) de
Caen, accused of “disloyal competition”
for opening their shop every day, as the union claims - “other small artisans
do not have the means to do this”.
Mr Perret said: “It’s strange for me to
think that I’m having to go to court
because I’m working!
“I have 12 staff members, and I
respect their time off. We do shifts, and
I respect their right to work.
“It’s shocking to have [a court case]
when you hear President [Macron] saying things like ‘You only have to cross
the street to find work’.” According to

Hospital in call for
unusual donations
A hospital in Paris is willing to pay €50 to anyone who
can provide it with some very
particular donations.
Doctors at Saint-Antoine
hospital are conducting a study
into the bowel disease hemorrhagic rectocolitis – and need
stool samples to assist in their
research.

Five arrested over
driving licence fraud
Police have broken up a
criminal gang they believe is
responsible for helping as many
as 600 motorists in and around
Marseille get their driving
licences without passing a key
part of their tests.
The group were arrested after
a scam was uncovered in which

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

January 2019

Keep out of it,
Trump is
warned after
gilets tweets

Photo: La Boulaga / Facebook

10 News in brief

the couple, being forced to close one
day a week would completely disrupt
the shop’s functioning and lead to the
loss of two jobs.
They have now started a petition to
help gather support for their case.
The laws on selling bread every day
date back to 1919. As a result, most
departments in France forbid shops,
stands and stalls selling loaves – such as
baguettes – every day, and demand that
shops have at least one day off a week.
The Perret bakery is not the first to
fall foul of such laws in recent years.

people falsely posing as candidates took the theoretical part
of the driving test.

State will now pay
cost of condoms
A BRAND of condom – the
French-made Eden – can now
be reimbursed on prescription
by social security as part of a
national effort to combat
sexually transmitted infections.
At present, the cost of treating STIs is €2billion per year,
including €1.6billion for HIV
alone. About 6,000 new cases
of HIV infections are discovered every year, according to
the Ministry of Health.

Official warning over
carte vitale scam
The public are being
warned against an email scam

Last July, Servane and Emmanuel
Deuval – who run the la Feuillette
bakery in Mondeville (BasseNormandie) – were forbidden by a
court to sell bread on Tuesdays.
They now continue to make legal sales
seven days a week due to two loopholes
in the law.
They sell sandwiches and cakes, but
not simple loaves of bread, on Tuesdays,
and have installed an automatic vending machine in their car park, which
dispenses bread 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.

inviting people to update their
carte vitale insurance card by
“filling in an online form”,
medical insurance agency
l’Assurance Maladie has said.
The scam is particularly “well
done”, the agency said, but is
completely false, and the email
should be deleted immediately
if you receive a version.

Price-fixing brands
are fined €189m
Six major white goods brands
have been fined €189million by
the French consumer agency
DGCCRF for their role in a
secret price-fixing agreement.
BSH (Bosch, Siemens, Viva,
Neff), Candy Hoover;
Eberhardt Frères (Liebherr);
Electrolux (AEG, Arthur
Martin); Indesit (Ariston,
Scholtès); and Whirlpool
joined together to increase

their minimum selling prices
to distributors, the investigation found. The policies were
found to have been agreed “at
the highest levels of the companies during secret meetings”.

Louvre reaches
10m visitor mark
The LOUVRE is seeking to
widen its appeal to Chinese
visitors as it celebrates a
record-breaking 10 million
tourist visits in 2018 –
confirming its status as the
world’s most-visited museum.
Its president Jean-Luc
Martinez said it is becoming
even more important for the
site to widen its appeal to
foreigners - especially the
Chinese, who make up an
ever-greater proportion of visitors. It is looking to include
more exhibitions of Asian art.

FRANCE has asked President
Donald Trump to stop interfering in its national politics
after his repeated tweets on the
gilets jaunes protests.
The US president, who
alleged that the Paris Agreement
on climate change was at fault,
has also been criticised for not
commenting on a march against
climate change (La Marche Pour
Le Climat), which took place
across France.
At least 20,000 people
marched in Paris on the same
weekend as the fourth round of
gilets jaunes protests .
Foreign Affairs Minister JeanYves Le Drian said: “I say to
Donald Trump – and the
Presi­dent of the Republic also
says – we do not take part in
American debates, so let us live
our own national life.
“We do not try to interfere in
internal American politics, and
we would like this consideration
to be reciprocated.”
After the first protests in Paris,
Mr Trump said it had been a
“very sad day and night” and a
solution would be “to end the
ridiculous and extremely expensive Paris Agree­ment and return
money to the people in the form
of lower taxes”.
He had previously tweeted:
“The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris. Protests
and riots all over France.”
He claimed French protesters
had chanted “We Want Trump”,
but Mr Le Drian said: “As far as
I know, the gilets jaunes did not
protest in Eng­lish, and videos
that appeared in the US in
which you hear ‘We want
Trump’ were from Lon­don, and
filmed during Mr Trump’s visit.”
Mr Trump announced his
intention to take the United
States out of the Paris Agree­
ment, which aims to decrease
greenhouse gas emissions and
limit temperature rises, in 2017.

The Connexion

January 2019

connexionfrance.com

News in brief 11

Dordogne named one of world’s most exciting places to visit

February

FRANCE’S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

Your practical Q&A

The stunning Benedictine Abbey of Brantôme (above), on the banks of the Dronne in the
Dordogne was one of the attractions mentioned in the National Geographic article. The abbey
was founded in 769 by Charlemagne. According to legend, he donated relics of Saint Sicarius to
the abbey. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times in the centuries that followed. Its
Romanesque bell-tower is a competitor for the title ‘oldest in France’.

Exciting? Not really but many, many other reasons to love living here
Connexion reporter
Jane Hanks puts her
long-held love of
Dordogne into words
I have lived in the Dordogne
for 27 years and I love it.
There are many beautiful
places in France. Some are
more spectacular, like the
Alps. Others are more culturally vibrant, like nearby Bordeaux and Toulouse, or with
more sun, but it is always good
to get back to the Périgord.
The combination of the rural
landscape and the consistently
beautiful architecture with
its warm ochre stone makes

it a wonderful place to be. It
is part of a Unesco biosphere
reserve; chosen because there
is no major industry or vast
city to pollute the beauty of
the department.
National Geographic says it is
one of the most “exciting”
places to visit in the world. It
is not the word I would use;
no mind-blowing thrills here,
rather an appreciation of the
best things in life and a closeness to nature and history.
Here are the famous painted
prehistoric caves like Lascaux,
the valley of the five chateaux,
the medieval town of Sarlat
and the river Dordogne at its
most majestic. I never cease to
enjoy the beauty of it each

time I have to drive anywhere,
even for the most banal
administrative appointment.
I also love my Dordogne,
which is the woodland just
outside my back door. Trees
cover 45% of the department
and most of it is unmanaged
and wild. It is a privilege to
have such easy access to
nature. Often, while out walking, I am rewarded by the site
of deer feeding on grass.
One bleak winter day, a
magnificent stag walked
across the track in front of
me. Two days ago, a wild boar
hurtled out of hiding.
My family have always
appreciated the river. Every
summer we spend hours

either in, on or by it. The
children learned to swim in
its unpolluted waters and we
have enjoyed many a barbecue
on the beach.
The Château de Commarque
sums up the best of the
Dordogne for me (see page 37)
– centuries of human history
hiding in the undergrowth to
be revealed by the hard toil of
a typically warm-hearted and
generous local man.
The Dordogne has a special
rustic, earthy beauty. Black
winter trees silhouetted against
the sky. The richness of the
greens in the summer.
Underlying history everywhere. A mixture of stone and
tree and earth.

Photo: Google

Levothyrox hearing moves to hall
to fit in huge crowd of witnesses

Google honours French ‘father of
deaf’ who worked to stop prejudice

Photo: Unknown / Public domain

GOOGLE has paid
homage to CharlesMichel de l’Epée
(right), who founded the first school
for deaf children in
Paris in 1760 and is
seen as leading the
way in deaf education. His methods
spread throughout
the world.
A Google Doodle
on its home page (above)
featured an animation of
children using sign language
to spell “Google” to mark
what would have been Abbé
l’Epée’s 306th birthday.
Born near Versailles in 1712,
Abbé l’Épée (he trained as a
priest) helped dispel the myth

that deaf people
were incapable of
learning. His work
allowed deaf people
to have an education and to defend
themselves in court.
Sign language
existed among deaf
people but he was
the first French
hearing person to
take an interest in it
and helped standardise French
sign language by categorising
the signs people used. He
developed a visually-based
educational system used in
his free school, which after his
death became a state institution, now the Institut national
de jeunes sourds de Paris.

A COURT hearing in the case
of controversial thyroid medication Levo­thyrox has opened in
a concert hall as the Lyon Palais
de Justice was too small for the
4,113 plaintiffs.
The hearing began last
month, with plaintiffs suing the
drug manufacturer, German
laboratory Merck, over a “lack
of information about the
medication’s controversial new
formula”, which was introduced
in France in spring 2017. It had
to decamp to the Double Mixte
concert hall in Villeurbanne.
The new formula caused a
scandal, with patients claiming
the medicine no longer works.
Around three million people
take the formula in France and
around 30,000 have reported
side-effects. Reports of problems emerged in August 2017.
Health Minister Agnès Buzyn
then made the old formula of
Levothyrox available, with
almost half the 130,000 boxes
selling out in two days.
Further tests of the new one –
including by French medical

safety body ANSM – found it to
be of “good quality”, and it is
still used. One ANSM study
found side-effects were similar
to those of the old formula but
unexpectedly frequent.
The new one was introduced
on request from ANSM. It
replaced inactive ingredient
lactose, thought to have made
the pills less effective over
time, with another additive.
However, some patients say it
caused side-effects or the return
of their thyroid problems, with
symptoms such as depres­sion,
fatigue, coldness, hair loss,
shaking, headaches, vertigo, and
even cancers.
Victims’ association l’Association Française des Malades de
la Thyroïde (AFMT) says its
own tests found “anomalies in
the composition” of the drug.
Merck plans to roll the
formula out across 21 Euro­
pean countries this year. Some
opponents allege its enthu­siasm
for it is linked to a much longer
patent period, because the old
one expires this year.

between a diététicien
n Can I call emergency
services in France from the and nutritionniste?
UK (for a relative here)?
n Is it law that officials
must accept documents in
n My tree’s branches fell
into next door’s property – all EU languages now?
do they still belong to me?
n What charges are due on
assurance vie withdrawals?
n What is the difference

Equity release in France

‘I want to do it but it’s a bad deal’

PLUS...What does a
PACS partnership offer?
‘The book
is seen
as very
important
here’
Photo: Bloomsbury

Photo: Monster1000 / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Dordogne has been
named as one of National
Geographic’s top five world’s
most exciting destinations to
visit this year because of its
“picturesque and historic”
attractions and culture.
It appeared at five on a list of
28 destinations for 2019 and
was dubbed “worth a trip” for
its “defining beauty and wonder in south-western France”.
National Geographic’s reporter Kimberley Lovato wrote: “I
am crazily in love with
everything about it: the prehistoric caves, the fairy-tale
castles and the resilient locals.”
Ms Lovato also cited good
food, the mix of languages,
and dialects such as Occitan.
She gave a special mention
to the traditional Félibrée
festival, which celebrates the
culture, music and history of
the Occitanie, Périgord, and
Langue d’Oc regions.
This year it will take place
in Périgueux.

INTERVIEW: Author Delphine de
Vigan on enduring literary culture
+ Art Deco and where to spot it
+ Meet the new cupcake queen
+ A piece of Aveyron... in Argentina
+ Why are some wines so pricy?

an extraordinary life...

Joan of Arc’s story

+ Paris’s Luxembourg gardens
+ Chocolate mousse recipes
+ France’s love of musicals
These and many more practical tips and topics
about life in France. Don’t miss out on a copy:

subscribe

Subscribe now to receive the February edition
at your home. Only €49 to a French address

www.connexionfrance.com

Call Nathalie on 06 40 55 71 63

12 Village life

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

January 2019

Cédric Szabo,
right, is head of
the Association
des Maires Ruraux
de France, a group
representing 10,000
mayors of small rural communes. He tells Samantha
David their work deserves
to be better recognised.

SMALL-TOWN maires have launched
a charm offensive to highlight their
work and fight back against what they
see as efforts to force them out of
office permanently.
They argue that maintaining these
tiny administrative units is important
to life in the countryside.
Cédric Szabo, head of the
Association des Maires Ruraux de
France (AMRF), which represents
around 10,000 maires in charge of
communes with fewer than 3,500
residents, says mayors of small rural
communes are an essential
expression of democracy.
“It is vital to maintain this system
because it means people know exactly
who to turn to for assistance with
everything, even disputes with
neighbours,” he said. “People in small
rural communes know that someone
is looking after them.”
There are 35,228 communes in
mainland France, and each has a
mairie, a maire, a secretary and a full
set of councillors.
About 34,600 communes are home
to fewer than 5,000 people and, of
those, 31,500 have populations under
2,000. There are around 20,000
communes in France with populations
of fewer than 500. Some are home to
just a few dozen individuals.
Mayors receive expenses for their
work on a sliding scale related to the
number of residents. For example, a
mayor of a commune of between
1,000 and 3,499 residents receives
€1,635 a month. The number of

Photo: Musee Jardins-Sabourdy

We must protect endangered rural mayors

The work of the mayor of Vicq-sur-Breuilh in Haute Vienne, who renovated the former presbytery and reopened it as an
art museum that attracts thousands of visitors a year, has been hailed as a ‘little miracle’ by Cédric Szabo
maires stepping down from their
positions has risen 55% since 2014,
according to figures reported by
Agence France Press.
But this is not accurate, says Mr
Szabo. “Most maires are staying,” he
said. “But it’s true that the pressure is
mounting.”
One source of discontent is being
forced to work with the maires of
other communes. Successive governments have moved towards amalgamating smaller communes to save
money and increase efficiency.
Mr Szabo said: “Rural maires have
always had to do this on some issues
because it’s impossible for a small
commune to do everything alone.
School buses, for example, are best
organised inter-communally.
“So intercommunalité has always
existed but now it is being forced on
communes, and working in a way you
haven’t chosen, with people you
haven’t chosen to work with ... that
doesn’t always come easily.”
La Dépêche du Midi daily newspaper

in the Midi-Pyrénées has given the
phenomenon a name: le blues des
maires. Causes cited include decreasing budgets and power, and the
increased role now given to ‘intercommunalités’ – which have in some
places regrouped up to 50 maires.
Stuck in meetings with dozens of
other maires, many feel they do not
have a genuine voice.
“The 2015 ‘Loi NOTRe’ gave more
power and more money to intercommunalités. That was a big change
imposed from Paris that came on top
of a whole raft of other legislation
decreasing the power of small maires,”
Mr Szabo said.
“We’ve also seen the formal creation
of ‘métropoles’ and the enlargement of
the ‘régions’ which has further
centralised decision-making.
“Small mairies can manage the
specific affairs of small communes in
a way that doesn’t happen when
administration is centralised.”
He is also in favour of mayors being
elected multiple times. Currently, they

serve six years and can be re-elected
without limit, but proposals to limit
their mandat to three consecutive terms
in communes of more than 3,500
residents are under review.
“Only being able to serve one or two
mandates would not allow maires to get
anything done. Large projects take
longer.”
He points to the village of Vicq-surBreuilh in Haute Vienne, where
Christine de Neuville is maire. “I visited recently and what she has done is
nothing short of a little miracle.
“The village was dying, but since
being elected in 2001, she has set up a
shop, a restaurant, and a creche.
“She’s also renovated the old
presbytery, and reopened it as an art
museum which now attracts around
10,000 visitors a year. There are floral
decorations, and more businesses are
opening. It’s a success, a little miracle.”
This is why maires being able to run
for office multiple times is not
anti-democratic, he says. “Residents
can vote a maire out if they prefer

someone else. That is real democracy.
Voter turnout for municipal elections
in the larger cities is around 55% but
in rural communes it is typically very
high, up to 90%, which means rural
maires have great legitimacy.
“Anyone can challenge a maire and
run against them at the elections.
“The fact that so few people do is a
reflection of how few people want to
take the job on. There are maires who
have been elected for 40 years and
can’t find anyone to replace them.”
Mr Szabo is not a maire himself. “I
do not have that honour. Our role at
the federation is to defend rural
communes in their current form.
“This move to centralise power must
be resisted, as must the obsession with
reducing the number of communes.
“Mayors of rural communes manage
92% of French territory but do not get
enough money to do it properly.
“Technocrats want to reduce the
number of fonctionnaires all over
France, but they represent rural
development through democracy.
“The president says he supports
start-ups, and communes are just like
start-ups, so why doesn’t he like them
more? Because they’re independent of
government, that’s why.”
Several rural mayors are worried
about Brexit because many smaller
communes have been re-dynamised
by incomers from the UK and from
all over the EU.
“Mayors are also concerned that
Brexit will increase their administrative burden and that if UK nationals
lose the right to run in municipal
elections, there will be a shortfall of
elected councillors,” he added.
Currently, 900 British people are
local councillors in France. They
have been allowed to continue in
the positions until the next local
elections in 2020.
“Many Britons living in rural France
play a healthy role in their local
mairies. We get a lot of letters from
maires about this issue. It’s just
another problem facing maires in
rural France,” said Mr Szabo.

The village where everyone has been le maire since 1971

Residents of Vandoncourt are encouraged to organise events
under a long-standing participative democracy project

VANDONCOURT has been called “the
village with 600 mayors”... only now there
are more like 800 of them.
The village, in the Franche-Comté, got
everyone involved when it started its own
system of “participative democracy” in
1971. The scheme is still running today
and its fall in population has reversed.
When the project was launched, there
were 700 people living there and the
population was falling. Now there are 860
residents and the village has no fewer than
28 active associations.
The associations form one of the pillars
of the participative democracy project,
along with eight commissions, open to the
public, which hold quarterly public meetings on all topics affecting local life.
There is also an elected council and a
strong policy of holding regular communal
events, in which everyone is urged to
participate. Mayor Patrice Vernier told
Connexion: “These range from the village
fêtes and meals, to building projects to
conserve the heritage of our buildings, to
communal litter picking and tidying up.”
When the originator of the scheme,
former mayor Jean-Pierre Maillard-Salin,
introduced it, it made national news.

Headlines proclaimed Vandoncourt to be
“The Village With 600 Mayors”, or even
l’Irréductible Village Gaulois (after the
Astérix comic strips).
Mr Vernier was elected mayor after Mr
Maillard-Salin’s death in 1993 and has
continued the policies. “It is a measure of
how well thought-out they were that they
continue, long after the initial buzz has
worn out,” he said. “At their centre is a
dynamic spirit, a wish to take the initiative,
of conviviality and civic pride.
“From the mayor’s point of view, it is
important that people are given the space
to express themselves in public meetings
or through the associations, and secondly
that they are listened to, and their views
discussed seriously and taken into account.
“Ultimately, it is down to the population
of the village to make it work.
“Modestly, I can say that our population
is growing while that of many other small
towns and villages is falling, so we must be
doing something right.”
He said that although there was a lot of
interest in the participative democracy
project from other communes in France,
he had no lessons to give. “I cannot give
advice to others because I do not live there

and do not know their circumstances. It is
no good someone coming and looking at
what we are doing and trying to copy and
paste it because it will not work unless
there is a real community spirit attached to
it,” he said.
The eight commissions cover teaching
and children; technical matters, communal
buildings and roads; finance and budgeting; social and family affairs; civic life,
including planning permissions, drains,
and flower displays; culture and ceremonies; surrounding areas, including
environmental matters, forests, orchards
and the cemetery; and finally work, youth
and economic solidarity matters.
Every resident is encouraged to join one
or more commissions, take part in their
meetings and volunteer in projects. Each
has two or three designated organisers,
who may also be on the municipal council.
Members are also responsible for specific
sectors or streets.
Mr Vernier said he put a lot of emphasis
on the organisation of festive events.
“They bring people together in an
informal way, and you get to know people.
“So even though we are the size of a
small town, the spirit is that of a village.”

The Connexion

January 2019

Maria Doyle Cuche sang
in the Eurovision Song
Contest, toured the US and
raised seven children in
France – all despite being
blind. Her autobiography
On ne voit bien qu’avec le
coeur [You can only see
clearly with the heart] is
out... she tells Claire McQue
her remarkable story
Maria DOYLE CUCHE’S voice
bursts through the phone from her
home in rural France.
She is singing You Raise Me Up in
flawless, clear tones as her way of
explaining who Brendan Graham is.
Graham, one of Ireland’s most
prolific songwriters, wrote Wait until
the Weekend Comes. In 1985 the
teenage Maria (singing as Maria
Christian) opened the Eurovision
Song Contest by singing that song.
Maria, now 53, is a force of nature.
Born into poverty in the Irish
border town of Dundalk in 1965, she
became blind at the age of nine
through a rare genetic illness but went
on to tour America at the age of 13
and then win the hearts of the public
in the Eurovision Song Contest.
A few years later she married a
Frenchman she had met just six
weeks earlier and then moved to
Chanteheux in Lorraine, north-east
France, where they have raised seven
children.
She remembers her life vividly,
recounting details as if she were
watching a film in her head.
“I knew I was born to sing,” she says.
She remembers winning a local song
contest aged five, singing Frankie
Avalon’s Why. “I’ll never let you go, I
think you’re awfully sweet” were lyrics
her mother sang to her as a child and
the words Maria sang to her own
brothers and sisters in Dundalk.
The first four months of Maria’s life
were spent inside an Irish Magdalene
Laundry, one of the institutions run
by nuns where “fallen” women notoriously suffered horrific mistreatment.
Her mother Eileen had refused to
give her baby up for adoption and
managed to leave the laundry after 11
months. She married a man named
Patsy McCabe and started a new life.
“I became a McCabe at 18 months,”
Maria says.
Her family fell on tough times,
struggling to pay the bills. “One time,
when we had an electricity meter
installed, my mammy broke it to recuperate the 50p coins she had fed into
it so we could buy bread and milk.”
For Maria, singing has always been a
tool of empowerment. When one of
her sisters died aged 2, Maria’s father
turned to alcohol and her mother to
valium.

“

connexionfrance.com

Interview 13

‘Anything is
possible if
you want
it enough...
I am living
proof of that’
Blind Irish Eurovision Song
Contest singer Maria Doyle Cuche,
who lives in France

“I used to sing to keep the atmosphere light at home,” she said. “I knew
my voice would help me through.”
Then, aged nine, her eyesight started
to fail due to a rare genetic condition
known as Stargardt disease. Maria
recalls her mother’s words: “He closed
your eyes, but he gave you a voice.
That will open doors.”
“And mammy was right,” Maria says.
“Who I am today is because I was
blind. If I went on Eurovision and
toured America and had seven kids, it
is because I am blind. I want to show
to everybody that, if I could do that
blind, what can somebody normal do?
You can do even more.”
Aged 13, she escaped from a residential school for the blind in Dublin
that she hated. Despite her lack of
eyesight, she travelled the 50 miles
back to her family home in Dundalk.
“I knew the way because me and
mammy used to take the bus when I
was younger. I had a sixth sense. By the
time I got home, everybody thought I
was dead. The blindness gave me a
great strength, the will to fight.
“I used to love looking at the stars. I
said to myself ‘Imagine that your
blindness is the sky at night and you
are the little star that’s there shining in
the corner. That’s what you’re going to
be like, one of those stars, up there for
the world to see. For over 40 years I’ve
been fighting so that this blindness
doesn’t put that little light out.”
With the news of her impending
blindness came the realisation that
Patsy McCabe was not her biological

I want to show to
everybody that, if I
could do this blind,
what can somebody
normal do? You can
do even more

Maria with her husband and seven children. Music runs in the family, she says
father. Her real father was a Spaniard,
who unknowingly carried the recessive gene for the disease. To this day,
he is unaware that Maria is his child.
She hopes he will hear about her book
and make contact.
At the time, nine-year-old Maria
said to herself: “I’m special. Maybe my
Daddy is Zorro. It doesn’t matter if
I’m going blind, I’m alive, I know
what it is to see. I have working legs
and working ears and I want to be a
singer. You don’t need eyes to sing.”
Maria’s dreams became reality when
a group of Americans saw her singing,
aged 13, at a festival and made the
decision to take her to America.
“That’s when my life changed,” she
said. She went on tour, and won the
hearts of the American people, who
even set up a Maria McCabe fund for
her, in the hope of finding a cure for
her blindness. In 1985, songwriter
Brendan Graham picked her to do a
demo of the ballad Wait until the
Weekend Comes and suddenly she
found herself opening the Eurovision
Song Contest in Gothenburg, aged 19.
Maria described that week as being
like a Cinderella ball. “I didn’t win but
I didn’t care. It was stunning just to be

a part of it. I didn’t talk at all about
my blindness. I just said I had a problem with my eyes and needed glasses.”
A romance with Richard Herrey, the
Swedish winner of the previous year’s
song contest, was lapped up by the
press, but they split due to religious
differences. “He was a Mormon and I
wanted to stay Catholic.”
A few years later she met the man
who did become her husband: ironically, a Mormon missionary on a trip
to Ireland from France.
Within six weeks they were married
and expecting their first child.
Turning down an offer of a record
contract from a company in London,
Maria and her husband moved to
France in 1992 when jobs were scarce
in Ireland due to recession.
Maria says moving to rural France
was one of the hardest things she has
ever done.
“I didn’t know anybody, I had no
family, no friends and I couldn’t speak
French. I was very homesick.”
While Maria’s husband worked in a
local DIY shop, she raised their seven
children, now aged between 12 and
26. Unable to drive due to her blindness, this was a struggle.

“Nothing in the village was adapted
for blind people. We would walk up
and down the steps to the school and
the village with the pram, soaked to
the bone in the rain. It was awkward
and hard to get around but I was used
to it. I just had to get on with it. The
kids were my help.
“Nobody offered us a lift. People just
thought I was a stranger who couldn’t
speak French with a gang of kids.
Many didn’t even realise I am blind
until recently.”
Only six months ago, a wheelchair
accessible paved slope was built alongside the steps leading up to the village
that Maria has had to climb for the
last 26 years.
“I did make France my home in the
end but it wasn’t easy. Now I have my
own clan with loads of friends in the
village and everybody knows me.”
Music runs in the family. “I have a
pianist, violinist, cellist, flautist and
guitarist,” she said. “The dream would
be to record an album with all of us or
to represent France in the Eurovision
Song Contest.”
Last year, the French publishing
house Plon offered Maria a book deal
following an inspirational TEDx talk
she delivered in Strasbourg. The title
of her autobiography On ne voit bien
qu’avec le coeur is drawn from Antoine
de Saint-Exupéry’s novel Le Petit
Prince. The full quotation translates as
“It is only with the heart that one can
rightly see; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” When her husband
read her book aloud for the first time,
Maria said it felt “better than a story”.
Maria ascribes her outlook to her
undeterred belief in a higher force
that gives purpose to her life.
“I want to give the strength and
courage to those that have found out
their child is blind, or somebody
recently diagnosed with breast cancer,
or any bad news. Anything is possible
if you want it enough. If you have the
vision to live, resist and fight it, you
can put your mind to it. I am living
proof of that.”

14 Comment

January 2019

Simon Heffer, the renowned political commentator
and historian, turns his gaze to French politics

Nabila Ramdani is an award-winning

French-Algerian journalist who specialises
in French politics and the Arab world.
Her articles feature in the French national
press as well as internationally.
She is a regular columnist in The Connexion.

Simon Heffer is also a columnist for the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs

Why French food
is now at the
bottom of the List

IF people consider that you have
some kind of expertise about
France, then there is a subject that
you will never fail to get questioned about. Forget the increasingly chaotic nature of the Fifth
Republic or related political, economic or social subjects – what
people really want to know is
where they can enjoy exquisite
Gallic cuisine.
I get messages all the time asking me to name the latest ‘in’ restaurant in cities such as Paris or
Marseille. Most requests are for a
Top Three, while others aspire to
details of at least 10, to include a
breakdown of best hors d’oeuvres
through to what’s new on the
cheese course.
In recent years, such advice has
been harder and harder to deliver.
Not because of cynicism or apathy,
but because much of the food you
come across in France nowadays is
ordinary to bad.
That sounds like a terrible
admission from someone who
should display at least a modicum
of food patriotism, especially to my
home city of Paris, but the situation really is pretty dire. La Liste –
a highly respected compilation of
1,000 global restaurants approved
by France’s Foreign Ministry and
Tourist Board – confirms this.
The latest Liste points to a
dearth of decent bistros – the kind
that used to be available everywhere, including British cities such
as London – and even says that
what is available in sensibly priced
restaurants can be “lamentable”.
Yes, the restaurant Guy Savoy,
situated on the Left Bank of Paris,
is top of La Liste, but that will
hardly help it get on one of my
lists. Michelin currently puts it in
the price range of €234 to €415
for a meal without drinks.
Artichoke soup with black truffles
may be on the menu, but generally
it reads like a glorified list of staples – salmon served with lemons,
saddle and rack of lamb, ice
cream and biscuits. It would not be
too difficult to offer all of this for at
least a fifth of the price, while still
making a decent profit.
Bill inflation is now quite absurd
across the whole range of places
to eat. Many Paris bistros, even
those with nothing like the prestige
of Guy Savoy, think nothing of asking €40 plus for a steak, and €25
for a bowl of pasta.

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

As in provincial France, you can
enjoy a passably satisfying meal,
but very little that tastes exceptional. Worse still, the dreaded microwaves whirr and beep away in
most kitchens, before pre-assembled dishes are topped with a
sprinkling of ageing parsley to dishonestly create the impression of
fait maison (home made).
There have been attempts to
market select restaurants with fait
maison labels, but this is hardly
encouraging. It simply proves that
homemade food is the exception,
and not the rule.
Institutional reasons are behind
many of the problems. Business
rates and other high taxes, combined with spiralling employment
costs, make it very difficult for restaurateurs to hire proper cooks.
The inherent conservatism of the
French means they do not experiment with the
kind of exotic
food you find all
over cities such
as London nowadays. Arab
couscous is one Among those
of the most pop- restaurants
ular dishes in
that are
France for hissurviving
torical and cultural reasons
economically,
(mainly to do
there is a huge
with colonisation and associ- reliance on
ated North
tourists who
African immigrawill only visit
tion), but there
are very few
once. So there
offers of any
is no emphasis
more exciting
plats.
on building up
Among those
a loyal local
restaurants that
clientele who
are surviving
economically,
would expect
there is a huge
reliance on tour- high standards
ists who will
only visit once. In this sense, there
is no emphasis on building up a
loyal local clientele who would
expect high standards. Most of the
in-and-outers will be foreigners
who will be disinclined to complain
about establishments they will
never go back to.
My message to them is the same
as it is to those of you who will
continue to send me restaurant list
requests in 2019: don’t say I didn’t
warn you!

“

E

mmanuel Macron must find it
incomprehensible. A few weeks
ago, as this column observed,
he considered himself the next
emperor of Europe, awaiting Angela
Merkel’s withdrawal from the Ger­
man chancellorship before ascending
his apparently inevitable throne.
Now he is humbled, humiliated,
forced into a craven surrender to a
traditional French mob chucking
cobblestones and Molotov cocktails.
Le Figaro, during the mid-December
EU summit, put it appropriately:
‘Macron affaibli sur la scène euro­péenne’,
splashed on its front page across a pho­
tograph of the president, his gaze fixed
to the ground ahead of him, walking
into the meeting alone and manifestly
without his usual swagger.
That he had to apologise for that
swagger – his arrogance, which
seemed to mark him out as a
self-conscious Brahmin or elitist – as
part of his appeasement of the gilets
jaunes was but a part of his selfabase­ment before a group who chose
civil disobedience rather than consti­
tutional methods to show their dis­
satisfaction with the Macron régime.
How did they hobble him so quick­
ly? Perhaps the first reason lay in a
central paradox of French life: that
for a country which, since 1789, has
prided itself on equality, it has
through its system of grandes écoles
created a ruling elite of which
M. Macron is a poor advertisement.
It is an elite that betrays little con­
nection with the average French man
or woman, and the gulf between the
two was responsible for M. Macron’s
inability to damp down the feelings
of the protesters. He simply did not
know where to start and was being
bombarded on a number of fronts.
That was a further problem. The
gilets jaunes were a barely coherent
force: they had no leader, or any
unanimously-agreed manifesto of
objections to the Macron programme.
Once M. Macron settled what had
appeared to be the main problem
– the rise in taxation of diesel and
petrol that especially disadvantaged
those living in the French countryside
– others, such as purchasing power
and the size of disposable income –
came out of the metaphorical trees
and started to attack him.
The president went on television to
offer his list of bribes and induce­
ments to his disaffected people,
including a rise in the minimum
wage, but seemed to have had the
stuffing knocked out of him aware
his forthrightness in the past had
done him no favours, M. Macron
now seemed positively sheepish.
Having been perceived as aggressive,
he was now perceived as weak.
The British statesman R. A. Butler,
one of the cleverest men to have held
office in the United Kingdom in the
last century and, largely for that
reason, twice cheated of the job of
prime minister, called politics “the
art of the possible”. M. Macron would
have done well to bear that in mind,

Macron’s error
was trying to do
the impossible.
Politics is the art
of the possible

because if you design policies to
assist a minority at the expense of
the many you are asking for trouble.
His fuel tax increases aimed to com­
bat global warming, something dear
to the hearts of metropolitan liberals
in Paris as in smart cities the world
over. If it occurred to M. Macron the
required sacrifice might not play so
well in the Dordogne, the Auvergne
or the economically-deprived villages
of Hauts-de-France, he did not allow
it to affect his policy. By trying to do
what was impossible, he has badly
weakened himself.
He has more than three years of his
mandate left; he also has pitifully
weak organised political opposition,
another, and under-appreciated, rea­
son for the rise of the gilets jaunes,
who were merely doing what a seri­
ous Opposition ought to do. Also,
France is rich enough, in global
terms, to rub along issuing the odd
bribe and inducement to calm down
the people without causing immedi­
ate economic collapse. But M.
Macron does not have a coherent
party of his own; La République en
Marche, the vehicle that got him to
the Élysée Palace in 2019, started to
decompose almost as soon as its job

“

His main hope must
be that the gilets jaunes
form a party and
stand in the European
elections in the
spring and take votes
from his rivals

was done. M. Macron was elected
because he was not Marine Le Pen;
he will need a more compelling argu­
ment if he is to have a second term.
What seemed his main intention
when assuming power – to restruc­
ture the French economy – was right.
France is an uncompetitive nation
that, and as a result (and because of
being trapped in a currency union
that overvalues its currency, a project
M. Macron actively supports) has
depressingly high unemployment
and too many on low earnings.
Despite one or two victories against
them – notably against the rail work­
ers earlier this year – it remains a
country in which syndicalists wield
disproportionate power. Despite,
also, M. Macron having begun to
address the problem of the Code du
travail, the massive rulebook by
which relations between employers
and their staff are regulated, France
remains a profoundly over-regulated
economy. After his surrender to the
gilets jaunes – a surrender made all
the more embarrassing after the mas­
sive displays of force, with hundreds
of arrests, that preceded it – it defies
belief that the president can achieve
the sort of widespread reforms that
France so badly needs.
He should have engaged the public
– and not just his fellow elitists – in a
proper conversation about how he
needed their co-operation to change
France in a way that equipped it to
deal with the modern world.
His main hope must be that the
gilets jaunes form a party and stand in
the European elections in the spring,
and take votes from his rivals –
though they might just take votes
from LREM, itself a protest move­
ment. As it is, France remains trapped
in the mindset of the Fourth Republic,
the consensual ideas advanced after
1946 to unite a France riven by the
occupation. France must, it seems,
await yet another president to lead
this change of mind and to take the
country into the 21st century.

Find more Comment both from columnists and readers online
connexionfrance.com/Comment

January 2019

‘I find it natural to speak for Britons’
OLIVIER CADIC, senator for
the French abroad, tells Oliver
Rowland why he has also been
helping the British in France
– and how he is surprised that
Britons abroad have no such
dedicated representation

Unlike the MPs for the French abroad
you don’t represent a part of the world?
No, I’ve just come back from Madagascar,
where I was working on cases of French
people being kidnapped and murdered
there – this year alone eight kidnappings
and four murders. I met the prime minister
and we set the objective that they will name
a judge to be in charge of these cases, so we
have a contact point for our judge who is
following these dossiers.
It’s one example. I think of the British academic doing political research who recently
was condemned to life imprisonment in the
UAE on accusations of spying. It’s the kind
of case a British counterpart might have
helped with – if they existed.
Another example happened in the
Dominican Republic, where French pilots
had been arrested, supposedly with drugs in
the plane. I went to the trial and helped the
families. Diplomats are there to avoid disputes with the local autho­rities and have
limits, whereas a politician, will generally be
listened to and can do something extra.
So it is very hands-on?
Absolutely, and we see at the moment the
difference with the British – they just have
to cope on their own.
Apart from being a senator,
you are an entrepreneur?

commerce, for example a FranceMozambique one; I support creating
French schools and Alliances Françaises
abroad and worked to support the transfer
of a French medical centre to Vietnam.
I helped find a solution for retirees in
America whose French banks didn’t want
problems with the American authorities so
stopped sending their pensions.

Photo: Sénat

FRANCE has 12 senators for the French
abroad and 11 dedicated MPs.
One of its senators Olivier Cadic, who
lives in Kent, recently spoke at both the
French Senate and at the British Houses of
Parliament to support maintaining the
rights of Britons in the EU.
Mr Cadic was formerly a councillor on
the Assembly of the French Abroad, a
consultative body which has one or more
elected representatives for each French
consulate (including nine in London),
elected by French people registered with
that consulate. It meets twice a year in
Paris and he sat on it from 2006-2014.
“It is these representatives who together
elect the senators for the French abroad,”
he said. “Now I sit in the Senate and I represent the French across the whole world.

Senator
Olivier Cadic

I used to have a business in electronics
and the internet, but I sold up. Now I have
a publishing business called Cinebook –
for example, Lucky Luke comic books in
English, that’s me. I’m the world’s biggest
buyer of rights of cartoon books, which I
translate to English and sell worldwide.
How do you divide up your time?
It’s not complicated – 40% of my time,
four nights out of ten, I’m in Paris at the
Senate, three nights I’m in England, and
three in the rest of the world; last week I
was in Mauritius and Madagascar. Next I’ll
be in Lithuania and then Washington.
Why did you want the job?
I was asked to go for it. I’d given a lot of
support to French businesspeople in the
UK, and a senator told me I would make a
good politician.
How does the role differ from the MPs’?
Well for a start we sit in different houses,
and the fact we have both makes sure the
French abroad are represented at all stages
of a law. There are as many French people
abroad as in the DOM-TOMs and they
have specific concerns. It helps them to stay
in touch with French politics, to be
involved and have their rights defended and
to make sure their issues are taken into
account, whether on tax, social security etc.
Can you give examples of issues?
Senators for the French abroad managed
to remove the social charges on property
incomes of the French abroad in the EU.
We also gained a lot for the organisation
of French education abroad and we
obtained a special social security caisse for
expatriates. I work to create chambers of

Do you see speaking out for the British
in France as an extension of this?
Yes. I realised when Brexit happened and I
started doing talks to EU citizens abroad in
the UK that all the other nationalities didn’t
have such representatives and in a way I
was representing everyone.
And I consider that defending the British
of France is in a way an extension of
defending the French of the UK. It’s the
other side of the coin. It doesn’t seem right
to me not to also think about them. Their
fates are linked and I found it natural to
speak for both.
Whatever decisions the British take with
regard to the French in the UK, even if they
were to be very tough on them, I will ask
that there are better conditions for Britons
in France. They weren’t responsible for the
situation and are victims of it like us and it’s
not fair to treat them poorly. It would honour us to maintain all their rights.
The idea of dedicated MPs for Britons
abroad is supported by the Lib Dems,
but the government thinks expatriates
should maintain a link with their old
constituencies. But those MPs do not
necessarily understand their issues...
No they don’t know what they are at all.
What it means is that for the government
you don’t exist, as British expatriates. But
they are conservatives with a small C, and
I think the current Labour Party is as well.
To me it’s a real source of pride to have
this representative role because other
countries see us as an example. In the
Tunisian assembly now they have MPs representing Tunisians in France. But there’s
really no representation at all for British
people abroad, which I find incredible.
The British have an insular view and if
you’re not on the island anymore it’s over.
There’s not even any representation of
expatriates at the embassy in France; I find
it unbelievable. It’s as if they just lose their
rights - which they do in fact, since after
15 years they don’t even have a right to
vote. It’s extraordinary.
Note: There are around 2 million French
people living outside of France. Around
5 million British people live out of the UK
(2 million of whom live in EU countries).

Zone blanche solution to teenage phone addiction
by SAMANTHA DAVID
IT IS now illegal for pupils to use mobile
phones, tablets, smart watches or other
connected items in écoles and collèges.
Mobiles prevent children concentrating,
are a tool for online bullying as well as a
temptation to thieves, and prevent pupils
making friends in real life, according to
the authorities.
It is not against the law to take a mobile
to school but on the premises they have to
be switched off and put away. Special
phone lockers might be an interesting way
forward, suggests the government website.
It is also illegal for pupils to use their tech
devices on school trips.
The website says punishments can
include confiscating the phone for the rest
of the day, extra homework and detention.

But how is all this going to work? Are
staff going to prowl the grounds seeking
out the Candy Crush kids?
One hopes not. The law should be just a
backup for what ought to be self-evident:
you don’t fiddle with your phone when
someone is speaking to you or when you
are supposed to be working.
And now a law backs it up, there can be
no argument when teachers insist on
phones being turned off.
I bet there will be, though. It’s hard
enough stopping children sneaking phones
into their beds, let alone persuading them
to stop using them during the day.
Excessive mobile use is a problem.
The endless body-perfect images, the
competition to have the best Insta pix, the
coolest Facebook page, the most likes, the
most retweets... It all piles on the pressure.

Comment 15

connexionfrance.com

It also eats time that could be spent making friends, learning instruments, playing
sport and other old-fashioned stuff.
And from a parent’s point of view, it’s
no fun living with a teenager who is
physically present but mentally awol.
Perhaps people living in the so-called
zones blanches – those patches of rural
France where there is still no network,
internet or wifi – are rather lucky.
Instead of complaining and asking the
authorities to get them connected as soon
as possible, maybe they could sell their
properties to families with ados?
In fact, once more people realise the
benefits of living in a zone blanche –
your kids look up when you speak to
them, no more battles to limit screen
time – perhaps house prices in these
areas will rise.

When Citroën meant
style and innovation

by ‘Ross Beef’
French car-makers traditionally reveal new models and
concept-car technology in the
autumn and the Citroën DS
was no exception.
Launched at the Paris Motor
Show in October 1955, it
revolutionised motoring and
remains an undisputable icon
of French design.
Before mondialisation – the
globalisation of car markets
and manufacturers, during
which time cars have become
blandly similar – each country
had a recognisable automobile
style. Certainly France did, and
none more so than Citroën.

“

It combined
technological
prowess and
audacious design
innovation which
defined it as a
symbol of Les
Trente Glorieuses
There are few things more
thoroughly French than a 2CV
– apart from the Eiffel Tower,
baguettes, berets… well, you
get the point.
Like the 2CV, the DS is the
essence of Frenchness – even
though its original designer
was Italian. Its name is a play
on words – DS with a French
pronunciation gives déesse, the
goddess – and it harks back to
a period of forward-looking
optimism, social change and
industrial growth.
The car was ahead of its time
– and an instant success, with
nearly 1.5 million cars produced over a 20-year period
until 1975. It combined technological prowess and audacious design innovation which
defined it as a symbol of the
Trente Glorieuses period, from
post-war reconstruction to the
1970s oil crisis. The extended

bonnet with integrated headlights, the curved windscreen
and streamlined roof, the long
tail and sweeping rear wing,
half enveloping the back
wheels, gave the DS its
avant-garde style.
The look was enhanced by
the big chrome hubcaps,
roof-mounted cylindrical indicators and extensive colour
schemes, often with a differentcolour body and roof.
The DS was packed with
innovative technology. It was
the first European car to have
independent brakes equipped
with discs at the front. It had
power-assisted steering, a
1900cc engine, and a semiautomatic gear change.
But it is the variable-height
hydro-pneumatic suspension
that most people associate with
the double-chevron brand.
Select the ride height, and with
the pressurised system allowing
trajectory correction, you
could experience magic carpet
comfort when out on the road.
Famously, the suspension also
allowed the DS to drive on
three wheels if required, in case
of a puncture or damage.
Inside, the futuristic dashboard was like nothing before.
In front of the single-branch
steering wheel, you used the
stick shifter to start the motor
as well as change gear.
Aeronautical-style instruments
and switches were visible and
accessible behind.
The large seats, thick arm
rests and padded carpeting
made for a comfortable driving
environment and set the DS
apart from its competitors, in
classic French style.
The DS was popular with the
middle class and with the stars
of the time, as well being the
presidential vehicle par
excellence. General de Gaulle
survived an assassination
attempt in 1962, thanks to the
road-holding ability of the car.
Occasionally you pass one,
often restored, cutting a dash
through the town or country.
It is an indication of the
significance of the car that,
even today, it attracts
attention. Its appeal goes
beyond automotive passion,
evoking a bygone era... proof
that even in motoring, style
never goes out of fashion.

Photo: Mic / CC BY 2.0

The Connexion

16 Letters

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

EU needs us more

They said it …
He is a king. Unfortunately, he’s
going to end up like Louis XVI.
An unnamed gilets jaunes protester
A member of the grassroots movement’s view of President Macron

The MP explains why he broke National
Assembly dress code rules and donned a gilet
jaune jacket in the chamber

The Paris Agreement isn’t
working out so well for Paris.
Protests and riots all over France.
People do not want to pay large
sums of money, much to third
world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe
protect the environment.
Chanting “We Want Trump!”
President Donald Trump

The US President falsely claims gilets jaunes chanted his name
during violent protests on the Champs-Elysees that had nothing to do with the
Paris Climate Agreement See page 10 for France’s reaction

What motivates fraudulent
bosses is the game
Eva Joly

The former financial judge in L’Obs on Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn
who is charged with financial misconduct re his personal tax declarations

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I WRITE in reply to your web
article from Nick Inman about
the EU bringing peace (EU
membership a small price to pay
for peace).
Both world wars were not
started by a “clash of nation
states” but by the ambition of
Germany to dominate Europe.
In Hitler’s case, to unify what he
saw as the Germanic people and
create what he referred to as
Germania. Prior to that, it was
the Kaiser. Earlier, Napoleon
aimed to spread French
influence across Europe.
I viewed the creation of the
Common Market as a realistic
and welcome move towards
co-operation and free trade in
Europe. The Maastricht Treaty,
however, was a cynical hijacking
by a power-hungry bureaucracy
to turn it into a vast federation.
Mr Inman’s own expressions of
“self-serving Eurocrats of
Brussels” and “flawed and bumbling institutions of the EU”
acknowledge the potential.
Germany pulls the strings of
the EU and the current man-

Nothing humiliating about cartes

oeuvring of Macron as Merkel
loses influence should give pause
to any notion it is the EU that is
preventing another war.
With some reservation, I supported Brexit (I didn’t get a
vote). But given the recent attitude of those Eurocrats to the
UK vote to leave, the fixation
that they must prevail against the
democratic choice of the Brits, I
am now firmly for Brexit and,
adding in other current stresses,
suggest the disintegration of the
EU may not be long delayed.
I am reminded of a conversation I had recently with a French
neighbour. Discussing Brexit, he
said at one point “don’t leave us”.
I initially assumed he meant
“don’t Brexit”. Further discussion
clarified he meant “be around
when the EU goes pear-shaped”.
Our government has made a
total mess of negotiations. The
EU have ensured they would
prevail. We are just at the beginning of an emotive and difficult
period, however this plays out.
David Homewood
by email

Papers piling up

It would be easier to accept the French government’s
professed concern for the environment if there were
evidence that it designed its administrative procedures
with the health of the planet in mind.
I make this observation because I am currently involved
in the process of assembling the paperwork for an
application for a carte de séjour and so far have amassed
around half a kilogramme of paper – I accept some of this
paper mountain is “just in case”, but even so!
Additionally, it seems I must make at least two trips to the
prefecture, which is more than 100km from where I live.
Overall, not exactly an environmentally friendly process.
Accepting the conditions that one must have lived in
France for at least five years and have sufficient income not
to be a burden on the French state, surely all the evidence
required to prove these facts is contained in one’s French
income tax returns for those five years: a communication
between the Fisc and the prefecture could verify this.
And all the bills etc said to prove residence in France
without periods of absence of more than two weeks or so at
a time in fact do nothing of the sort! As for the fingerprint
requirement, that could be done at a local gendarmerie.
Just my pennyworth to help save the planet, reduce the
workload at the prefecture and last, but not least, save me a
lot of time and expense.
Malcolm EVANS
Haute-Garonne

January 2019

Re: Humiliating faff for carte Letters, December edition.
One of the tenets of the
European Union is freedom of
movement, thanks to which
British people have been able to
reside in France with the minimum bureaucracy, and likewise
EU citizens’ ability to reside in
the UK. Each member country
has, however, been at liberty to
implement their own immigration policies and procedures.
I would hazard a guess that the
vast majority of UK immigrants
into the EU never even bothered
to apply for cartes de séjour until
the events of June 2016 put this
freedom in jeopardy, and have
now done so in the hope the
carte will stand us in good stead

whatever the outcome of Brexit.
I fail to see any “humiliation”
in providing documents which
the French government decided
long ago were necessary to prove
residency, financial means, etc.
Contrast your letter headline of
the same issue “French law will
protect Britons in Brexit chaos”
(sadly not as straightforward as
it reads, I’m afraid!) with May’s
disgraceful comments about EU
citizens “queue jumping”. And
perhaps your respondent should
ponder on the true meaning of
humiliation, such as that visited
on some of the “Windrush’” generations by the UK government.
Julia Higginbotham
Lot-et-Garonne

Why the gilets annoy me

THERE is one aspect of the gilets jaunes I find intensely annoying.
If you need a tunic to be seen in the dark on a bike, you have to
buy a yellow one. I wear mine a lot. A turning point came when I
was cheered by lycéens as I sped past their school in a balaclava for
the cold. I’m not a militant, I just don’t want to be run over by a car.
I found other colours online but orange suggests a council worker; green, eco-activism... finally I found and ordered a royal blue.
Miles CLERY-FOX, by email

GDP protects the rich

The use by Eurostat of taxation as
a percentage of GDP is as false a
measure as is GDP.
Gross Domestic Product ignores
all collateral and consequential
damage (eg pollution/global warming costs). It is a broad brush that
reveals nothing useful to most.
Up to now, the better social
services in France make sense out
of paying taxes, which are essential
to any sane society, especially if well
used by its government.
Sadly, the tendency to privatise
essential social services puts France
on the same course we have seen in
the UK since Thatcherism. In short,
privatisation of social services
which uses our taxes to enrich
private faceless shareholders.
It may be more useful, in this
gilets jaunes age, to have tax levels
broken down as a percentage of
income and wealth by groupings
(such as the 5% highest total
incomes as a percentage of gross
worldwide wealth, going down by

5% or 10% steps to the lowest
5%-unemployed).
Last year, the “patrons” of CAC40
gave themselves 14% annual
increases on huge figures. City of
London Stock market bosses did
better, at 25%.
Then, instead of expressing our
sense of injustice by inconveniencing fellow gilets jaunes, we can all
be gilets jaunes targeting the real
villains in our increasingly divided
free market capitalist societies.
I have always gladly declared and
paid all my taxes both in the UK
(from 1954, age 18), and now in
France since 2000 where I live as a
French citizen.
I enjoy an adequate pension and
comfortable life here but feel that
the pursuit of never-ending
economic growth is being outpaced
by the increasing need for more
and more charities to deal with the
victims of the greedy few and their
political allies.
Brian Hurley, Dordogne

The Connexion

January 2019

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Banking at a
snail’s pace
Has anyone else felt that the
French banking system is excruciatingly slow and inefficient?
In 11 years, we are now on our
third bank. First CIC, then
Barclays/Milleis, and now Crédit
Agricole.
All suffer the same fate, taking
ages to implement instructions
and never responding to
correspondence, or requiring
your life history in paperwork.
Latterly, it took Milleis 21 days
to close a Livret A after two
letters, five emails and two
phone calls. Similarly, CA have
taken nearly three months to
offer a small loan to repair a
barn roof, with double the loan
cost secured by an assurance vie,
and required reams of personal
documentation, far more than
for a carte de séjour! What a
shambles.
Name and address
withheld on request

Tax matters
Nabila Ramdani’s criticism of
the Gilet Jaunes (December
Connexion) seems a case of not
seeing the wood for the trees.
The fundamental decisions
about what is produced and how
are made in the interests of a
small global elite.
This elite loves flat taxes on
essentials such as fuel duty
because the major impact is on
the lives of poor people. The
very wealthy are highly skilled at
protecting their money and
making sure that the costs of
their choices are dumped on
those who have no choice. At the
same time, they can pose as
defenders of the planet.
To ignore this is to provide
ammunition to climate-change
deniers who appear champions
of the average person while
encouraging business as usual.
Steve Gelfer
Châtellerault

Letters 17

connexionfrance.com

w w w. b l e v i n s f r a n k s . c o m

Don’t fall for gilets’ Who pays for anarchy? Only a fool
breaks two
populist propaganda
second rule

Re: the gilets jaunes – as a
French citizen who lived in
Britain for decades and now
living in France with my
British husband, I am appalled
by this anarchic and nihilistic
leaderless movement which has
taken hold of the country and
has won the approval of most
of the press, left and right,
duped into believing their
populist propaganda.
To the cry of “ras-le-bol fiscal” (down with taxes) I say
“ras-le-bol des râleurs” (down
with the moaners). Moaning
about everything and anything
has now reached hysterical
proportions.
That, in a country with one
of the highest levels of social
protection in Europe, with a
myriad of benefits and tax
breaks for the low paid, the
highest state pensions as well
as the lowest pension age in
Europe, the lowest level of
poverty in Europe, the best
health service in the world and

Letter
of the
month

the same standard of living as
Germany… I could go on.
(information from Eurostat).
But in France, people are no
longer prepared to pay for any
of it and scream blue murder if
any benefits or public services
are taken away from them.
The country has become, in
effect, ungovernable. The idea
that Macron is arrogant and
therefore should resign is
ludicrous. No president can
win. Hollande was accused of
being not presidential enough.
The “cause” of the gilets
jaunes is groundless. There is
no road tax to pay and the
price of petrol in France is
average for Europe, in line with
the cost of living and by no
means excessive. After the
Paris riots, there is no doubt
the aim is the destabilisation of
the Macron government. We
live in dangerous times, in
France and in Brexit Britain.
Daniele Lebreton-Travis,
address supplied

Mrs Lebreton-Travis wins the Connexion letter of the month and a copy of the Connexion Puzzle
Book. Please include your name and address in any
correspondence; we can withhold it on request.
The Editor’s decision is final.
Write to: The Connexion, Patio Palace,
41 avenue Hector Otto, 98000 Monaco or
email news@connexionfrance.com

Clue in the constitution

Your article “Mythbuster: France is a Catholic country”
(December Connexion) misses the most important point of all.
The opening words of the French Constitution are clear: “France is
a republic, secular and indivisible.” So, to claim France is a Catholic
country is arguing with the foundation on which the state is based.
By contrast, the UK is a monarchy in which the Church of
England and the state are intricately intertwined.
The Church of England is the second biggest landowner (after the
House of Windsor) and enjoys huge tax advantages denied both to
adherents of other faiths and those of no faith. In the context of a
multicultural society, such privilege is indefensible. France has set
an example from which the UK could learn a great deal.
Stephen D Morgan, Finistère

You said it …
France introduces fixed
fines for drug use
“When are the powers that be going to grow up
and realise just how much good cannabis can
and does do.” N.D.
“Make them do it away from people who want
nothing to do with smoking, so the smoke does no
harm to anyone but the smokers.” H.I.
“Big pharma has invested so much hiding the
facts, it will take someone famous being saved
from cancer to shift the thought process.” T.G.
“I believe if in control of a vehicle, then yes, but as
with alcohol, some guy sat in his garden chilling
just let them be.” B.H.
“Legalise it, already.” C.M.

I am 75 and have lived in
France for over 30 years. I weep
when I see a country tearing
itself apart as a disbelieving
world watches it descending into
anarchy. A government that
appears unable or unwilling to
take decisive action.
At this time of the year I
usually travel by car to England
to share Christmas and New
Year with my family. This year it
is impossible.
I am told that the gilets jaunes
have legitimate grievances. That
may be so but the method of
securing a resolution cannot be
right. Ordinary people are being
prevented from going about
their lawful lives. People are
being prevented from keeping
medical appointments.
Businesses unable to trade.
The rest of the world is seeing
a capital trashed; the Arc de
Triomphe desecrated and that
must grieve many war veterans.

As a former senior police
officer of over 30 years I suspect
genuine ranks of the gilets
jaunes have been infiltrated by
criminal elements for their own
ends – those who are seen to be
wearing masks. The genuine
gilets jaunes are willing to be
seen and be interviewed.
When this situation is finally
over, there will be a price to pay.
France has to recover and
there is the cost of policing the
protests, clearing debris, rebuilding properties, businesses to
recover from lost trade. To
rebuild confidence that France is
a country to visit and trade with.
The government will pay in
the first instance but the money
has to come from somewhere
and that place is the people,
whether by direct or indirect
taxes, and those taxes will
continue for years.
Name and address
withheld on request

President Macron eloquently denounced the French violence
on the one hand, but then basically gave in to the protesters’
demands, reflecting all that is wrong with today’s “leadership.” In
short, he caved and rewarded bad behaviour.
What’s the real message then? Riot more to get what you want. It
works well, after all, so expect more.
William Choslovsky
Chicago, US

Problems in UK are real

Tony LIVELY (Knives out for the UK – December) complains
about TV coverage of British problems.
Maybe when he lived in the UK he did not notice the continual
digs and abuse of France and the French in the press, on TV, from
comedians, and in everyday conversation.
We noticed it because my French wife had to put up with it almost
every day, sometimes to her face. It was as if people did not notice
they were being Francophobic, so embedded is this kind of
unpleasantness. She was relieved to come to live in her country,
where we have not noticed much negative feeling towards the UK,
more a kind of respect for things British.
Anyway, gangs and use of knives is on British TV and in the press
almost every day now, so it is hardly surprising it has been picked
up by foreign media. True, “unsociable goings-on” are not exclusive
to Britain, but post-referendum and austerity it has got a lot worse,
and will probably get worse still when Brexit actually happens.
Christopher O’Hagan, Sarthe

According to World Health
Organisation statistics, there
were 1,792 road accident fatalities in the UK in 2016 compared
to 3,477 in France. Another
comparison shows 27 road
deaths per million of population
in the UK in 2017 compared
with 53 per million in France.
France is five times larger than
the UK with approximately the
same population. UK roads are
more congested and road
surfaces are superior in France.
UK minor roads are well worn
with lumps and potholes.
Why then has France nearly
twice as many road deaths?
The answer is simple – French
motorists drive too close to the
car in front. French drivers
ignore the rules at roundabouts
and jump in front of cars already
on the roundabout.
Anybody in the UK who has
been on an advanced driving
course (or on a course to avoid
speeding points) has had this
rhyme hammered in to them by
the police instructors: Only a
fool breaks the two-second rule.
When driving, you observe the
car in front as it passes a fixed
object (tree, road sign etc) and
count two seconds. You should
then be passing the fixed point
yourself. The rule works at any
speed to make sure you leave a
safe gap. On wet or greasy roads
you should double this distance.
If you leave a two-second gap
in France, you will soon find a
French driver rear-pushing to
shift you out of the way.
So how can these statistics be
rectified? It will need a massive
re-educational programme and
higher penalties for tailgating.
I doubt it can ever happen.
David Hardy
by email

You can debate and comment on articles either at our website:
www.connexionfrance.com or via our facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheConnexion
Here is a selection of recent popular subjects and readers’ comments...

Smacking should be
banned in France, says law chief

“I find the behaviour of children in France quite
outstanding. Please don’t follow the UK in this
as it’s a slippery slope. Discipline is fine, respect
will be earned.” B.H.
“Good. It is entirely possible to discipline a child
without shouting, smacking, or any other form of
abuse.” S.D.
“If you have to hit a child to change their
behaviour, it is you who has failed.” S.K.
“You can raise a child without smacking them. You
are not allowed to smack, for example, your
workmate – so why a little child? Smacking just
creates hate and fear.” E.W.

No congestion charges in France
“The country will collapse if the people don’t
realise they cannot spend what they haven’t got.
They’ll go the way of Greece.” L.H.
“So the people in the towns avoid congestion
charges, which are a fair and accepted method of
diminishing pollution. They simply don’t get it.” J.S.
“And people ask why the French protest.
M. son Majesté Impérial L’Empereur
Macroparte appears to have no clothes..” D.S.
“But the French have it easy. I get €350 a month
for my two kids, plus my childminder is €100 a
month. When the kids were born, the state gave
me €1,000 each one. I wouldn’t have had
children, or a house, if I were in the UK.” H.T.

Your views on the gilets jaunes
“The French get out and make their feelings
known. The French government listens. The UK
could learn from both lessons.” A.P.
“Macron gave a mere peace offering to calm the
violence. It will not affect the longterm goal.” R.M.
“They have to stop now. Enough is enough.
They are like yellow militia.” M.S.
“It wouldn’t matter who was president of France the French hate any type of reform to make France
prosperous and will fight against it.” K.C.
“Not all French have money. Not all expats have
money. As with a lot of government measures,
the poor are hit the hardest.” N.B.

Q& A

Readers’
questions
answered

Send your queries about life here to Oliver Rowland
by email to news@connexionfrance.com

I had to change my motorbike’s speedo
I BROUGHT my Triumph
motorbike to France and
was required to change
the speedometer, which
showed mph and kph,
to one showing only kph.
This seems petty. D.K.
IF a vehicle is recent and
made in the EU and thus
has an EU certificate of
conformity from the manufacturer, then it should be
accepted and does not have
to undergo inspection for
homologation in order to
carry French number plates.
You can apply directly
online for a French registration document in this case.
A car would also need to
pass a French MOT test
(contrôle technique), including a check on the speed-

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

ometer, but this should be
limited to checking it works.
In other cases you need to
apply for the vehicle to be
inspected by the Direction
Régionale de l’Environnement, de l’Aménagement et
du Logement (Dreal).
Each region has its own.
Created in 2013, these
bodies absorbed the functions of the old inspectors of
mines. The link is that the
first regulated vehicles were
mine trains.
The law is officially the
same for all but in practice
interpretations can vary
from inspector to inspector
and from Dreal to Dreal
across the country, so the
interpretation you experienced might not be the
same as that experienced by

someone else. Triumph
France said it is not usual to
have to change the speedometer. The legal requirement is that it be clearly
marked in kph and that the
kph divisions are numbered
in divisions of 10. Therefore
a speedometer numbered
10kph, 20kph, 30kph, or
one numbered 20kph,
40kph, 60kph, should be
OK. If it was numbered in
5kph sections, then it would
have to be changed.
There could have been a
problem with the legibility
of the kph scale in the eye of
the inspector, who might
have thought the mix of
numbers was too confusing,
or there might have been
another aspect of the original which they did not like.

Am I insured for subsidence?
IS SUBSIDENCE covered by household
insurance? G.V.
SUBSIDENCE (affaissement) is covered by
most multirisques habitation household
contracts but usually under the cover for
catastrophes naturelles (natural disasters),
related to drought, flood, earthquakes etc.
Claims can be met only if you have relevant insurance and if the government has
published a decree in the Journal Officiel
declaring a state of natural disaster covering
the area where you have your home.
Usually this will cover a whole commune
but sometimes it is limited to only part of it.
Once the decree has been published, the
way is open for insurance companies to pay
out quickly – they are partly compensated
through a special fund. Claims have to be
lodged within 10 days.
The first stop is to ask at the mairie to see
if a decree has been issued. If there is no
decree, you can ask the mairie to get one
from the Ministère de la Cohésion des territoires. You may have to pay for a survey,

although it might be covered by a protection
juridique clause as part of your home insurance. As well as the mayor, you could contact your MP, senator and departmental or
regional councillors and anyone else you
believe might have some influence.
If you are successful, you will still have to
contribute a franchise légale of €1,520 if the
damage the claim relates to has been caused
by drought, or the re-hydration of the soil.
If you find cracks in the home due to subsidence and your home was built in the last
10 years, you can make use of the garantie
décennale, the 10-year builder’s guarantee.
This should cover problems relating to the
solidity of your home in this period.
Also if you discover subsidence after a
purchase, you might be able to make a
claim against the seller for a vice caché (a
hidden defect), but this can be difficult. The
problem needs to have existed before you
purchased it but not have been obviously
apparent to you at the time. Finally, if the
subsidence is due to actions of a neighbour
or the council, then you can sue them.

What’s the law on petrol cans?
CAN I legally transport spare diesel or
petrol in a can in my car and does the
law change on this when you cross the
border to another EU country? K.R.

YES, the law in France allows you to transport jerry cans of petrol or diesel and the
legal maximum is too high to pose a
problem. The key requirement is that the
cans are homologué, ie. made for the purpose and with a mark showing they follow
the UN regulations (ONU in French) for
transporting dangerous substances.
Les jerricans in sizes of 5l, 10l and 20l are
commonly sold. Note that you should also

FUTURE QUESTIONS
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have two fire extinguishers in the car,
according to the letter of the law.
The main regulations on this were ratified by 48 countries but, according to car
hire firm Sixt, the carrying of jerry cans is
not legal in Portugal, so there may be
ad­ditional restrictions in some countries.
The RAC states people should not carry
more than 10l in the car when entering
France from another country. There are
also restrictions imposed by some transport companies, eg. Brittany Ferries, which
runs services between the UK and France
and Spain, allows passengers to have only
5l containers on board (a small jerry can).

Can I call French emergency
services from the UK (for a
relative here)?

January 2019

Can I become
French if my
job income is
from abroad?
I AM a British person living in France who works
across the border in Belgium. I want to apply for
French nationality but have heard that if your
main income comes from outside France it can
be a problem. Is this true? S.W.
A FRENCH Interior Ministry official said that it is
true that part of the notion of “residence” in France,
for purposes of requesting a change of nationality,
is that you should have your “centre of material
interest” in France, which includes financial
autonomy and having French-source income.
Having income from abroad may indicate a
“context of dependency on and/or allegiance to the
other state”, she said. Having income from abroad
does not in itself bar you if you are not dependent
on it for your basic needs. In other words, at least
part of your income should come from France.
But the official added: “The case of frontier workers is always complex and is looked at as a whole.
“There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The fact that
someone works abroad is a negative point but if it is
not in the country of origin, then the “dependency/
allegiance” issue is reduced. We also look at family
links, whether the person owns property here,
whether they pay their taxes in France, etc.”
My older son was not born in France but his
younger brother was and will be eligible for
French nationality when he reaches 13. I understand my older son will then be able to apply,
due to being the sibling of a French person. The

Can undeclared
driver use a car?
ONCE in a while I drive the family car
even though I am not declared to the
insurer as either a main or secondary
driver. If I have an accident, will I still
be covered by the insurance? M.M.
THE ISSUE here is whether or not you
genuinely only drive the car on an
occasional basis.
According to insurance rules, everyone
who drives the car on any kind of regular
basis should be known to the insurer so
they can adjust the premiums depending
on the way the car is used.
If someone other than the main
declared driver or drivers uses the car
frequently, it changes the risks involved in
the use of it.
If other people drive it, this should only
be exceptional, with typical examples
being because the main driver had been
drinking or did not have their glasses.
If you declare an accident and say you
were driving it only on an exceptional
basis, the insurer might carry out investigations if there is a large pay-out involved
and/or they have doubts about the truth
of the situation.
They have investigators, often retired
police officers or gendarmes, on their
books who may visit and ask questions of
neighbours, for example.

What is the difference
between a diététicien and
nutritionniste?

Image: JLPC Wikimedia Commons

18 Practical

rules say this applies if he has lived in France
since the age of six but does that mean he has
to have had his sixth birthday here or is it all
right if he moved here when he was already six,
as is our case? I have also heard that a parent
of a French person has the right to French
nationality 25 years after the child gained
French nationality – is that correct and is it only
if the child was born in France? D.A.
THE first rule applies as long as the person came
before their seventh birthday, an Interior Ministry
spokesman said. Other conditions apply too, such as
residency in France, being aged over 18 and
having been to school in France.
As for the 25-year rule, this is correct and it applies
to parents of French people regardless of how they
gained French nationality. The only difficulty may
be in proving the 25-year residency if you are from
another EU state. This is because EU nationals generally have not had cartes de séjour, so you will need
paperwork demonstrating that you have been living
here all that time (owning property is not enough).

If we move back to UK will our
different-sex Pacs be valid?
WE ARE in a differentgender Pacs [a French
form of civil partnership
open to same and opposite sex couples, often
entered into for property
purchases] and are considering returning to the
UK. Will our Pacs be
recognised there? B.F.
UNFORTUNATELY, no it
will not, although this may
change in the near future.
Lauren Evans, an associate with the London-based
international law firm
Kingsley Napley, said the
UK’s Civil Partnership Act
2004 recognises the French
Pacs, but only for same-sex
couples, which it considers
comparable to the current
UK civil partnership.
So a heterosexual Pacs is
not recognised.
However, legislation is
going through the UK
parliament (in the form of
a private member’s bill) to
allow heterosexual couples

My tree’s branches fell into a
neighbour’s property – do
they still belong to me?

to enter into British civil
partnerships.
Ms Evans said the current
version of the British bill
does not mention the
recognition of overseas
relationships, but it
requires additional regulations to be made amending
the 2004 act.
At that point the
section on “overseas
relationships treated as
civil partnerships” could be
amended.
She added that there is, as
yet, no guarantee that such
recognition would be
retrospective to include an
opposite sex Pacs entered
into before the change in
the UK law, although it is
possible.
At present therefore, the
only sure option would be
to get married – or to wait
and see if the law changes.
Ms Evans said she will
take the issue up with the
MP who put forward the
private member’s bill.

Is there a law that officials
must now accept documents
in all EU languages?

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Q: I reported a fault on my
line and was told if the fault
was inside my property, then
I would be charged €69.
I never saw a technician
outside my property, let
alone inside my house, so
queried it when I was
charged all the same. I was
told that the charge was
regardless of whether or not
the fault was inside my
property. They agreed to
credit me the €69, but how
can we be responsible for
faulty Orange infrastructure?
They told me the law
changed recently. T.R.

You may have seen
CRS companies
out in force – and in
action – during the
gilets jaunes protests.
EVENTS were tense during the
recent gilets jaunes protests
against fuel prices and general
tax rises. On the ChampsElysées in Paris, CRS riot
officers used tear gas to push
back protesters attempting to
breach police lines.
They also had water cannons
ready and grenades assourdissantes (stun grenades that
flash and bang and are thrown
into the air) were used.
One CRS member told BFM
TV it was the worst situation he
had seen in 19 years in the job.
“At one point they were throwing things at us and we were
saying to ourselves ‘we mustn’t
get to the point where we have
to use our weapons in selfdefence’,” he said.
The TV station reported that –
in scenes reminiscent of the
May 1968 student and worker
protests – bottles and paving
stones were thrown. Makeshift
barricades were created by
protesters out of planks, building site barriers, plastic bins and
other street furniture.
The CRS officer said: “Peo­ple
don’t realise we’re human too
and the uniform we wear
doesn’t protect us from death.”
According to left-leaning
newspaper Le Monde, the CRS
was heavy-handed at times on
the last weekend in November,
with barrages of officers equip­
ped with reinforced trucks at
the end of the Champs-Elysées
nearest the presidential palace.
This came after they were
caught out the weekend before
when protesters came near the

Elysée. Le Monde said: “On
Sa­turday morning they straight
away started using tear gas
against little disparate groups
which until then had been
perfectly non-violent.”
Elsewhere around France there
was a CRS presence at locations
where the gilets jaunes protesters were active, on roads and
roundabouts and at motorway
péages.
A reassuring presence helping
to keep the peace and public
safety – or an oppressive tool of
the capitalist state? It
depends on your
politics. CRS forces
are generally recognisable from their
heavy protective gear,
often with riot shields
and helmets, and the
red and white logo on
the uniform showing
a flaming torch and
an oak leaf wreath.
The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) were
created in 1944 to fill a gap after
the dissolution of Vichy regime
paramilitary groups. They were
established on a permanent
national footing after the
government considered they
conducted themselves well
during strikes in 1947.
Their role is maintaining and
re-establishing public order –
essentially riot and crowd
control – including dealing with
terror attacks.
Officially the CRS are “com-

panies” of the police, and une
CRS usually refers to one of the
companies, whereas, informally,
un CRS means a CRS officer.
Their motto is “To serve” and
their logo, known as the CRS
flame, was designed by a French
painter from Versailles.
In the past the CRS were
especially present at flashpoints
of unrest, such as May 1968 in
Paris or the 1995 fisher­men’s
protest in Rennes, when the
17th century Brittany parliament building was set alight.
They were also involved in
the Algerian war. Thousands
were sent over in the period
1952-1962 and many were
killed or wounded.
Unlike the officers, who undeniably have a challenging job,
those involved in such protests
see the clashes differently. Take
singer-songwriter Maxime le
Fores­tier’s 1972 song, Mon

Our main image
was drawn for
Connexion by
artist Perry Taylor.
For more of
his work see
www.perrytaylor.fr
Frère, about things he would
have liked to have done with his
imaginary brother, in which he
tenderly sang that: “If life had
been kinder, she would have
divided into two, the pairs of
gloves, the pairs of smacks; she
would surely have shared out
the words of love, and the
paving stones, girls and baton
blows.”
The officers have chosen this
specialism and receive appropriate training. As well as 60
general CRS companies, there
are nine for motorways, two for
mountain rescue and six motor-

cycle units. There is also one
specialising in escorting celebrities, notably the president of the
Republic, called CRS no.1 (la
Musique de la Police Nationale,
a professional fanfare band and
orchestra, is part of it).
Another role, since 1958, is
acting as beach lifeguards (who
also carry a gun in case of a
terror attack), though this could
stop next year after a state
finance watchdog said it was
costly. The government thinks
they should focus on their main
work instead.
They often work in partnership with mobile gendarmerie
units (known as la jaune from
their gold insignia), who are
technically soldiers while the
CRS are fonctionnaires.
Since 2009, both come under
the authority of the Interior
Ministry. Below this, the hierarchy is the director general of the
Police Nationale and the
Direction Centrale des CRS
(DCCRS). There are seven zone
headquarters, in Vélizy (Yvelines), Lille, Rennes, Bordeaux,
Marseille, Lyon and Metz.
The CRS tend to work mostly
in or near cities and are often
present at strikes and protests.
The role includes protecting
people and buildings from
violence, including watching
places of worship or ceremonies
and festivities if there is potential for violent protest or opposition. They also aim to stop
related crimes such as looting.
The CRS have a support role
at borders, aimed at preventing
illegal immigration, especially
of dangerous individuals.
To enter the service, people
must be aged 17-34, have a
driving licence, a clean criminal
record, be in “perfect physical
condition” and at least 168cm
tall for men or 160cm for
women.

A: You pay a monthly line rental
and rightly expect that Orange
will comply with its contractual
responsibility to maintain a working service to your property. The
point at which your responsibilities start is from the Dispositif de
Terminaison Intérieur box on the
inside of your property, just
where the line enters; not the
first phone socket, as is commonly believed. All internal wiring is, as you say, your responsibility.

This situation even applies to
older installations where the
telephone line is carried from the
nearest telephone pole overhead to the home.
Should the line be damaged
by trees, you would be ex­pected
to have the branches cut back,
but the repair of the line remains
Orange’s responsibility. New line
installations require the property
owner to bury the line underground from the boundary to the
point of entry to the house and
drill a hole in the external wall to
enable the cable to pass.
Anything different would leave
subscribers exposed to high
potential costs. Should you have
to pay to replace a telephone
pole that had rotted, or to
replace components in the local
exchange?
In the 15 years we have provided these services to customers in France, we have never
passed on such a charge and
have from time to time challenged charges. We are not
aware of any recent change
of law.
If it happens again, you could
request that the regulator Arcep
investigate and adjudicate
(arcep.fr).

Euro Sense
Shaun Dash, from Currencies Direct,
answers a reader question on
currency exchange
Q: My son lives in France and I want to transfer him around
£30,000. Is it best to make the transfer in one go or to do it
in several smaller amounts? R.S.
A: Breaking the transfer down into smaller payments may not be
the right move. Generally speaking, currency providers will offer
you a more competitive exchange rate on larger amounts.
The only reason you might want to break your transfer down is if
you believe the exchange rate may strengthen in the future but you
want to hedge your bets against a possible drop by moving some
of the money earlier.
If you are not sure how exchange rates are likely to move, get in
touch with a leading currency transfer provider and ask them to
keep you updated with the latest rate fluctuations.
While there can be restrictions on the amount that can be moved
between certain countries (South Africa, for example) there are currently no restrictions regarding size of transfers to and from Europe.
While the UK’s exit from the EU might have an impact in the
future, so far nothing definitive has been mentioned regarding personal transfers. It is also hoped that the eventual Brexit deal will
involve the maintenance of close financial ties. However, there is
really no telling what impact a no-deal Brexit could have on
currency transfers between the UK and EU and it will likely depend
on whether the UK government seeks to remain in the European
Economic Area and maintain regulatory alignment.
If you are worried about the potential ramifications of Brexit, it is
a good idea to talk through your requirements with a currency
specialist as soon as possible. While Britain’s future outside of the
EU and the impact on transfers remains unclear, with the support of
the right currency provider you can maximise your returns and
make sure your son gets more euros for your pounds.
 Email your currency queries to news@connexionfrance.com

For more information about making international
money transfers with Currencies Direct
visit the website www.currenciesdirect.com/france
or call +33 (0)4 22 32 62 40

20 Practical

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

January 2019

Civic service: it’s volunteering but with benefits
should sign on at service-civique.
gouv.fr and look for a mission which
interests them in the location of their
choice. Some of the missions are
overseas.
They can then apply online.
Educational qualifications are not
taken into account but they have to
write a motivation letter. Some
organisations answer quickly but
applicants might have to be patient
for a reply from others.
Service Civique is popular, so it is
best to apply for several to have the
best chance of being selected.
It is open to French nationals and to
members of the European Union, as
well as to those of other nationalities
who are legally resident.
A Service Civique spokesperson
told Connexion that young Britons in
France will be accepted on to the
scheme until at least December 31,
2020, assuming a deal on Brexit is
agreed.
n The government wants to go further and introduce a Service National
Universel, following calls for either a
return to obligatory military service
or mandatory Service Civique placements. A trial could begin this year.
The scheme would be introduced in
two phases. The first would be an
obligatory period in school at age 16.
It would last for up to a month and
would include a short period with
pupils living together and a
community project. This could be in a
charity, a public body or the army,
police or sapeurs pompiers.
A second phase, to be introduced
later, would last one to three months.
Young people would be engaged in a
public-interest pursuit such as
heritage or helping others, or a spell
in the military.
A recent government study of
45,000 teenagers found 75% were in
favour, despite a lycée student strike
in early December in protest at
education reforms, including
compulsory civic service.

Homeless charity work
made me rethink career
CASE STUDY: Tài NGO is 19 and, like many young
people, he started a post-bac course but soon realised
it was not for him. Instead of biology, he decided he
wanted to do social work and opted for a Service
Civique to find out more about what it involves.
He is in Paris working in a charity called Les Enfants
du Canal, which assists people living on the streets. He
started last June and will finish later this month.
“Every day I go to three different places and meet
homeless people,” he said.
“We talk and sometimes organise trips to museums
or art galleries to offer them something cultural. The
eventual aim is for them move off the streets.”
He says the experience has been a real education: “I
had preconceived ideas, thinking homeless people
were all alcoholics, dirty and unpleasant, but I have
found this is not true.
“We are always welcomed with a smile, and I think
what we do is useful and helpful.
“I have learnt to interact with homeless people and
to be independent because you are often faced with
situations where you have to make a decision quickly.
“It has put me directly in contact with real-life prob-

Tài Ngo (right), pictured with colleague Etienne Garçon,
swapped a biology course for a social work career after
starting a Service Civique programme
lems and it makes you understand things differently.”
It will also help him in his future career: “I know now
what I want to do and this experience should help me
to get a place to study social work as, in an interview, I
will be able to show that I understand more what this
job is about.”

I wanted to do some good following Paris attacks
CASE STUDY: When Lavan
Natkunam (right) was 22, he did
not know what to do with his life,
having become disenchanted with
his post-bac studies.
He wasted much of his time getting up late, spending hours on his
computer and feeling lost. It was
the Paris terror attacks which made
him change. “It acted as a spark.
There was so much unhappiness
around. I wanted to do some good
in the world and so I signed up for
a Service Civique,” he said.
He was the first one to be taken
on by Caf, the state family allowance organisation which runs two
social centres in Paris.
His job was to find a way of giv-

ing the public access to computers
and to help them to use them: “It
was a new idea so I had to decide
how to do it. I was able to set up a
space where people could come to
use computers and then I gave
lessons on how to access and use
sites like the Caf, Pôle Emploi and
Assurance Maladie. I had not
realised that so many people needed help in this way.” He enjoyed his

Photo: Service Civique

SERVICE Civique gives young people
the chance to do voluntary work for
between six months and a year.
They receive a net payment of €580
a month to help with living costs.
The scheme was introduced in 2010,
and it aims to encourage social
cohesion by giving young adults the
chance to meet people and experience
situations they would not otherwise
come across.
It can also teach skills volunteers
might not have learned at school and
give them ideas for future careers.
The scheme has grown steadily. In
the first year, some 6,000 took part,
rising to 140,000 in 2018.
More than 11,000 associations,
organisations and public bodies are
authorised to take on Service Civique
volunteers but there is still far more
demand from young people than
available places. The current aim is to
have 150,000 placements a year.
The scheme is open to anyone aged
16 to 25 – extended to 30 for people
with disabilities – and it attracts the
same number of men and women.
The average age is 21 and around
40% enter the programme after getting their bac. Another 33% do so
after higher studies, and around 24%
after leaving school without the bac.
It can be taken like a gap year and
university students get authorisation
to take a break in their studies to do a
Service Civique placement.
It is also attractive to people who
have dropped out of education, as it
can help them find something to do
while they consider their future.
Reasons for taking part, according
to a survey, included professional
experience, getting involved in social
work, and being useful to others.
There are different types of mission,
ranging from helping in a school or
giving information on cutting energy
costs in the home to wildlife projects,
visiting the elderly who are alone at
home, getting involved in sports
associations, and organising cultural
activities. Anyone who wants to apply

time in the centres so much that he
went every day, and got involved in
other activities such as helping
children with their homework. “It
really made me get off my sofa and
gave me a new purpose in life.”
He went on to get a short-term
contract helping people to use
computers and is now a student at
a renowned computer training
school. “Before, I thought you
could only be a software designer if
you worked in computers. Now, I
know there are other openings.”
He said Service Civique set him
back on track and gave him
confidence because he could be
useful to others: “It was a boost to
be thanked for the work you did.”

Happy New Year to everyone living in ‘tax haven’ France
Money Matters

Robert Kent of
Kentingtons explains.
www.kentingtons.com
“France as a tax haven” – a few years ago, we
ran a series of seminars with this very heading
and they were all well attended, even if only by
people wanting to poke fun at the notion (but
who actually left confounded).
Many people have an incorrect definition of a
tax haven in their minds. They think it is a place
or country with no tax. Not so – the extended
English Collins dictionary states: “A tax haven is
a country or place that has a low rate of tax so
that people choose to live there or register
companies there in order to avoid paying higher
tax in their own countries.”
Using this definition, it is easy to prove that,
for many, simply moving to France made them
better off. This is in spite of the recent news that
France has again topped the EU tax burden list
(this is distorted as it takes into account tax on
businesses) or the gilets jaunes protests against
rising taxes, particularly on fuel.
Is this the case for everybody? Indeed not, but
the point being made is that France is not the

high-tax country that everyone thinks it is. The
issue with French tax is its complexity.
What makses France tax-friendly?
The parts system: This essentially shares allowances and thresholds between household
members. The more people in the household,
the more sharing takes place. In the UK, for
example, self-employed people employing their
spouses to take advantage of allowances is
common. This is not required in France.
Even for a small household, this works well.
If we take a married couple, Mr and Mrs
Smith, of UK state retirement age, where one is
receiving pensions of the equivalent of €50,000
per year. UK tax would be around €7,400
(depending on the exchange rate used).
The mere act of moving to France means that
Mr and Mrs Smith’s tax bill reduces to around
€3,730 … pretty much half!
One of the confusing things about the French
system is the plethora of rules. It can be
mind-boggling. People simply look at the tax
bands, drawing quick conclusions, and so
dramatically miscalculate.
What about wealth tax?
This tax has been a stumbling block for some,
though it does not apply to many people,
ie. only to those with a worldwide estate above

€1.3million. The good news is that, as from last
year, this is now just a property tax, and so will
only be applied to property (and funds investing
in property). The government plans to reassess
this in 2019 and continue or amend depending
on the results. There are allowances to consider,
such as 30% on the main home and offsetting all
taxation, debt etc. This means that owning a
house (maybe a nice chateau) valued at
€1.8million and €10million in the bank, gives
rise to a wealth tax bill of €0.
What about local taxes?
We have seen taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière
rise significantly over the last few years, but taxe
d’habitation, for many people, will be reduced
dramatically to zero. Even people with relatively
high levels of income (for example, couples with
tax-referenced income up to €45,000 per year),
will not have to pay this tax by 2020.
The new “flat tax” on savings
The new tax is 30%. Thankfully, it includes
social charges, which are now 17.2%, so actually
the flat “tax” is just 12.8%. This does have an
impact on assurance vie investments after eight
years, which could be taxed at 7.5%, so this adds
5.3%. In the early years, however, the tax-atsource rate starts at 35% + 17.2%. Therefore, the
new tax is a huge improvement. With good

financial planning, it is possible to make
significant savings being assessed via the
declaration, since much of the income from an
assurance vie is not even deemed “taxable”.
To illustrate that this tax is hardly an issue: If
Mr and Mrs Smith (our friends from earlier)
were drawing their €50,000 from an assurance
vie instead of a pension, their income tax bill
would be a huge €0. Even happier New Year!
All great but what about the cloud of Brexit?
Indeed, we can be as miserable as we like about
the politics, but we can be overjoyed that we are
here (or looking to move as soon as possible).
People are worried about their right to remain,
the unknowns on tax and health. If you want to
live in France, none of these are issues.
Non-EU citizens move to France all the time,
with no problems, and tax is covered by tax
treaties, which are bilateral agreements, so
nothing to do with the EU. There are
solutions for health, even if Brexit ends in total
disaster.
I would reason that if anyone is blaming Brexit
for putting off a move to France, their hearts
simply are not in it.
In conclusion, France is one of the most
wonderful countries in the world to live and,
what is more, it can be a tax haven and it could
be for you. Happy New Year!

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A beginner’s guide to skiing Recipes from the Ritz Louis Pasteur

2 Ski France

French Living I January 2019

Planning a skiing holiday?
Think beyond just being
out on the slopes all day
Whether you are looking for a non-stop party or a family friendly atmosphere, France
has the perfect winter resort for you. Samantha David lists the differences to look out for

Photos OT St-Lary; inset: Propaganda73

D

eciding to go skiing is one
thing. Actually finding a
resort that is perfect for
your needs is infinitely
trickier: all promise endless
snow, mulled wine and blue skies; all of
them have ski schools and lifts. How
are you supposed to tell the difference?
In France, one of the first decisions is:
Alps or Pyrenees? Obviously, living closer
to one than the other will count, but if
both are equally accessible to you, what
are the differences? Generally speaking,
skiing in the Alps is fast and furious,
fashionable and fun. The Pyrenees is
more chilled, more family-orientated,
more authentic and less self-conscious.
Many resorts in the Alps are connected
by ski lifts and cable cars so you can ski
over several hundred kilometres of
mountain. For beginners and intermediates, the number of ski runs available in
the resort will not matter as much as it
does for experienced skiers who are
always seeking a new challenge.
Resorts in the Pyrenees have plenty of
skiing but slopes are often less crowded,
so beginners can learn at their own pace
without fearing imminent physical contact with an adrenaline junkie.
For most skiers, what is often more
important is the overall atmosphere.
Frenetic or chilled? Trendy or come-asyou-are? Resorts that offer challenging
snow parks attract a more energetic,
adrenaline-fuelled crowd than resorts
with land art and beginner trails.
Nightlife is also another clue. Not
everyone goes skiing to ski. Increasing
numbers of people go to party.
The ‘La Folie Douce’ chain, for
example, has venues in
Avoriaz, Méribel, Alpe
d’Huez, Val Thorens,
and Val d’Isère.
Each is built on
the slopes, usually
just beside the cable
car, and contains a
high-end restaurant, and a cheaper
canteen, plus bars
and an all-day club
atmosphere – with
sun-bathing, drinking,
music and dancing on a terrace overlooking the slopes. Many
people take a cable car to the club for
lunch, party all afternoon and take the
last cable car down to the resort – to
plunge into a vibrant après-ski scene.
Not all resorts in the Alps are party
central, however; there are quieter,
more family-friendly places (Les Saisies,
Ardent, and Reberty 2000, for example)
but as a rule the Pyrenees offers smaller,
more relaxing, resorts with quieter bars
and restaurants.

By the numbers

Pay attention to those numbers tacked
onto the end of resort names. ‘Les Arcs’
in the Savoie might sound like one resort,
but it is actually five separate places.
‘Arc 1600’ was the first ski resort constructed in 1968 above the market town
of Bourg-Saint-Maurice and connected
directly to the town’s railway station by a
funicular railway.
The architecture is very Sixties and
prices are realistic (because it is so easy to
take the funicular down to BourgSaint-Maurice). ‘Arc 1800’ was
built in 1974 and is the
biggest of the ‘Les Arcs’
resorts. ‘Arc 2000’ was
built in 1979 and
optimistically
named for the turn
of the millennium.
It is small, quiet
and compact, perfect for experienced
skiers wanting direct
access to the slopes.
It can, however, be
closed during bad weather,
a problem less likely to afflict
west-facing ‘Arcs 1800’.
(Incidentally, the higher resorts are ski
in/ski out, meaning you can put your skis
on at the door of your accommodation
and ski down to a lift, and ski back down
to your door when it’s time to go home.)
The newest development (finished in
2008) is ‘Arcs 1950’ which is set around a
high street designed to reference a waterfall, tumbling downhill in a series of
twists and turns.
The architecture of ‘Arcs 1950’ referenc-

Family friendly
resorts such as
St-Lary, above, have
a very different
atmosphere to the
all-day parties in
found some Alpine
locations

“

Resorts
that offer
challenging
snow parks
attract a
more energetic adrenaline-fuelled
crowd than
resorts with
land art and
beginner
trails

es traditional low-rise chalets, and even
the pedestrianised village centre – which
you can ski down – is designed to look as
if it grew organically.
The shops, bars and restaurants in ‘Arcs
1950’ are beautiful but prices are higher
than in stations at lower altitudes.
All ‘Les Arcs’ resorts are linked by the
Vanoise Express to the 425km Paradiski
area, which includes La Plagne and
Peisey-Vallandry. The same valley is also
home to the ‘Espace Killy’ (Val d’Isère
and Tignes) as well as ‘Les Trois Vallées’
(including Courchevel, Méribel, Val
Thorens, etc), making it one of the most
densely skied valleys in the world.

Cut accommodation costs

Skiing can be an expensive holiday,
but one way of bringing costs down is
booking your own travel and opting
for hostel-style accommodation, available in many resorts. Modern hostels
offer family rooms, washing machines,
restaurants, and wifi as well as communal kitchens and dormitories, and
breakfast is usually included.
The International Youth Hostelling
Association (fuaj.org) has properties
in ski resorts. The Auberge de
Jeunesse Chamonix Mont-Blanc offers
bed and breakfast plus free shuttle
rides to the slopes starting at €23 per
night (minimum of two nights).
They offer two-day packages from
around €60 including one night in the
hostel and a ski pass. There are hostels
in Chamonix, as well as Chamrousse,
La Clusaz and Les Deux Alpes.
The-backpacking-site.com has useful

Real towns

The Pyrenees has its own charms. More
resorts are real towns, and because they
are smaller, the welcome is personal.
A personal favourite is La Mongie, a
small resort at 1800m which offers skiing
and lounging about in the sun. There is
no ice rink, no swimming pool, no prestigious spa. There are two mini-marts, a
handful of gift shops, some bars and restaurants and a selection of ski hire places.
No nightclub, no disco, no party vibe.
This is the place where children can
either learn to ski or just play in the snow.
Adults can stretch their legs in the sunshine while contemplating the slopes, and
lists, while French association UCPA
organises cheap sports holidays for
people aged from six to 55 years-old.
The website ucpa.com offers a week’s
skiing from €730 per person including
accommodation, ski pass, equipment,
lessons, and leisure activities.

Going solo?

More companies are offering skiing
holidays for solo travellers. These are
not romantic ‘singles holidays’, but
holidays for people whose nearest
and dearest do not like snow sports.
French website copinesdevoyage.com
organises ski trips for women travelling solo. Travellers book to go on a
planned trip which becomes definite
once enough people have signed up.
UK sites include solosholidays.co.uk,
friendshiptravel.com and solotravel.org
but many mainstream travel companies also offer ski holidays for solos.

Learning to ski 3

Confessions of a late
convert to winter sports

Photo: Propaganda73

Photo: Jo Pendered

Photo: Agence Urope

Photo: P Compere

January 2019 I French Living

Connexion reader Jo Pendered
(above) started skiing nine years ago,
when she was 46. “My husband, Steve, is
a really keen skier and I’d always wanted to try it, but never had the chance.
“So he took me to Val d’Isère for a
week, and taught me – mainly by putting me on a couple of black runs fairly
early on!”
She admitted that she got stuck, but
took courage from seeing a crocodile of
five year olds skiing past and decided to
copy them.
“Skiing is all in your head, it’s about
believing you can do it. So for me, seeing those children go past was a trigger,

thinking that if they can do it, so can I.”
A keen runner and cycler, Jo said she
has always been quite healthy but learning to ski made her feel able to tackle
new adventures.
“I’m 54 and we’re both retired but I
have every intention of skiing for the
rest of my life,” she said. “It’s fun, the
weather is often stunning and the
mountains are beautiful.
“I would definitely encourage anyone
to take it up at any age. But I would
encourage everyone to wear a helmet,
too many people come a cropper without them. You wouldn’t go on a motorbike without a helmet on, would you?”

Your resort of choice
will depend on if you
want to head to an
après-ski party, stare
at the heavens on a
clear night (Pic du
Midi, top), or relax
in a spa (Cauterets,
below) after a day
on the slopes
Photo: Arnaud Spari

once you do get round to strapping a pair
of planks to your feet, you’ve got over
100kms of pistes to explore. On a good
day, you can see the Spanish border.
If you really cannot stand the easy life
any more, you could always take the cable
car up to the Pic du Midi de Bigorre on
the summit above the resort. NASA had a
telescope installed there in 1963 to take
photographs of the moon in preparation
for the Apollo missions.
Failing that, a short drive will get you
to Bagnères-de-Bigorre, where there are
supermarkets, a casino, an 18-hole golf
course, and a spa.
For a Pyrenean resort which offers yet
another spa, and is directly accessible by
train, try Cauterets.
A real market town, it has access to the
ski slopes via a fast cable car, and you can
rent a locker and leave your equipment
up on the slopes, meaning you do not
have to tote it all up and down the mountain every day.
For families, St-Lary is hard to beat.
It has 100km of ski runs including the
challenging 3.6km Mirabelle run, but is
also well-equipped for children, with a
snow kindergarten, a special park for six
to 12-year olds, a toboggan run and a
recently refurbished area for beginners.
So when choosing a resort, rather than
looking at pistes and snow, try considering either a) a purpose-built resort or real
village/town; or b) party central or chill
zone. But don’t forget to check out offpiste activities and amusements.
And if you are opting for self-catering,
remember that unless there’s a large
hypermarket nearby, you will pay a fortune for groceries.

Photo: Cathy Breyton

Tai Chi and the art of older skiing

Ski instructor Cathy Breyton (above,
middle) is 63 and says it’s entirely possible to learn at any age.
She uses a method which she calls Tai
Ski, which uses elements from martial
art Tai Chi, especially finding your balance and shifting your weight, which
are key skills in skiing.
“Beginners tend to lean backwards,
meaning their weight is on the wrong
part of the ski and they have trouble
controlling the movement. All learners,
but especially people over 50, need to
transform their fear into a desire to
learn, a desire to have fun, a desire to
slide. Once that switch has happened
and fear has gone, learning becomes
easy.”
She recommends The Centered Skier
by Denise McCluggage. “I took lessons
from Denise and she taught me to ski
so well that I set the women’s speed skiing records in 1978 and 1980.
“Her book is a good place to start the

psychological journey towards enjoying
the sensation of sliding.”
She says that she doesn’t consider skiing a dangerous sport. “You ski for
pleasure, for fun. Tai Ski makes it like
dancing on snow. But for complete
beginners it’s a good idea to do some
exercise before arriving on the ski
slopes because falling over isn’t the
problem. Standing up again is more
often the problem.”
The Tai Ski method is particularly
good for beginners, nervous skiers and
intermediates wanting to ski more
effortlessly.
She will run group courses and give
private lessons at Grand Tourmalet/La
Mongie February 3 to 8 and March 9 to
16 2019, and will be in Val Thorens at
the end of March. Nine hours of lessons
(in English, Spanish or French) over
three days in a group of four to six people costs €164 per person. Cathy’s email
is cathybreytonfaye@orange.fr

4 Rencontre

French Living I January 2019

Don’t call me an illustrator – I am an
artist who creates books for children
Photo: D. Desmard

Jane Hanks discovers a
few of the secrets of an
award-winning author
of children’s books

P

auline Kalioujny writes and
illustrates children’s books.
She has won two awards in
2018 for her book Promenons
Nous Dans Les Bois – the Prix
Pitchou at the Fête du Livre de Jeunesse
at Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, Drôme,
and the Grand Prix de l’Illustration
awarded at the Museum of Children’s
Illustrations at Moulins, Alliers.
She is an established author/illustrator
and publishes books regularly. Baba Yaga
came out in October, and she has another
book due for release for the Spring.
However, as she explained, it is a long
road from loving to draw as a child to
having a book published with your name
on the cover:
What attracted you to
writing and illustrating?
All children love drawing and being
imaginative but most stop when they are
older. Artists like me, decide they will not
stop being like that. I grew up in a family
where my mother and grandmother were
both interested in children’s literature and
we had a house full of books.
I didn’t want to create books when I
was young. As a teenager I wanted to be
a painter, but I didn’t get a place at Les
Beaux Arts and I was devastated. Instead,
I went to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure
des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
At first I wasn’t keen, but I then found it
interesting to learn all sorts of different
methods, such as graphic arts, photography and video and to learn how to create
an image which will be shared.
The wonderful thing about creating
a children’s book is that it will be enjoyed
all round the country by adults and
children.
You write as well as draw
and paint, so how do you
like to describe yourself?
I do not like the term illustrator because it is not just
about drawing. I prefer to
be called an artist who creates books for children. I
like to create an artistic
adventure from words
and images.
It gives a great freedom
of expression and creativity. I think our work is often
undervalued and that the work
we do is an art form.
I also think it has an important role,
as surrounding children with beautiful
books is vital to their development and
children should have access to art just as
adults do. Art helps you understand the
world around you.
How do you go about creating a book?
It takes a very long time. I have masses of
ideas, all the time, and they develop slowly into what may or may not eventually
become a complete book. I have a sketch

book and little by little a character might
emerge. Some ideas have to be discarded
along the way and others might suddenly
grow when I see or hear something
which adds to it, or observe a child who
acts in the way I think my character
would act. It is a very long process.
For example, I am obsessed by flowers,
and the way they are constructed and I
draw them all the time.
For several years, I have wanted to
include them as a
theme for a book, and
now I have eventually
come up with an idea
that a publisher has
accepted, about a young
person who goes into a
garden and is confronted
by the different characters
of the flowers and what
they represent.
Now I am doing the illustrations and it should come
out in April.
Doing the drawings is really the last step, and, because I have years
of practice now, it is the easiest and
quickest part, though it may still take
some months. However the birth of the
book has begun!
What are your inspirations?
I like to explore the link between man
and nature. I think ecological issues are
very important and in Promenons Nous
Dans Les Bois the wolf is not the big bad
enemy as it is in this classic French song,
but comes to the aid of the characters in
the book and at the end the little girl and

Pauline Kalioujny’s
version of the
perennial classic
children’s story,
Promenons Nous
Dans Les Bois
draws heavily on the
influences of stories
she heard from her
Ukrainian father

“

When you
grow up
with two
cultures in
one country,
you often do
not understand why
you don’t
quite fit in

the wolf are merged in the same image.
I do not want them just to be for children, but also for the adults who are
reading them to their children so that
they work on different levels.
I am also definitely influenced by the
fact that my father was Ukrainian and my
mother was French.
I was brought up with the fabulous
illustrations from Russian books in the
thirties and my characters are often pictured in the winter, wrapped up snugly in
hoods and soft scarves. The colours I use
are often red, black and white.
It was just not possible for me to remain
indifferent to the legends and the songs
of my paternal background. However, I
did not go to Russia until I was grownup, but then it made a lot of things fall
into place.
When you grow up with two cultures in
one country, you often do not understand
why you don’t quite fit in, until you visit
that other country and recognise things
in it that are in you, and that are not in
the country you grew up in.
It can be hard growing up like that,
but in the end you appreciate it for the
richness it adds to your life.
Is France a good place
for children’s books?
It is one of the best places in the world
for illustrated children’s books.
There are several publishers and they
are very popular. I know Italians who
come to work in France because this culture just does not exist in Italy. Why it
should be so strong in France, I just do
not know.

Can you describe a working day?
Today, I am lucky enough to have enough
work to concentrate just on my books.
For a long time I had to do other jobs to
make ends meet. But now I live above my
workshop and go into it in the morning.
It is a bit like being a craftsperson. I have
all the tools of my trade around me and I
get to work. I draw and paint.
I write and there is a lot of administrative work to do as well; drawing up
quotes, answering emails and so on. It is
solitary and you have to be disciplined as
there is nobody with you to encourage
you. Being in my workshop is like being
in my brain and so I do also need to go
out and have a break.
I meet with my editor and my art
advisor and I like to work with them in
a team. Sometimes I go for a drink in a
café for a change of scene and I also like
to go to exhibitions and have a rich cultural life I can draw on to add to my
books. It is great to live in Paris, to have
all that around me. I am often invited
to schools and to book fairs so my week
in the workshop may well be broken up
by a trip.
What is it like when you
see your work published?
It gives me a feeling of great joy.
It is a huge struggle to get to that point,
but it is worth it. I am happy to be doing
what I do. When children ask me questions about the characters in the book
and I feel they have entered into the universe I have created, I forget how difficult
it all was and it is pure magic.
www.paulinekalioujny.com

6 Gardens/Green news

French Living I January 2019

Green-fingered generosity in 2018

T

he year 2018 has been another
success for Open Gardens/
Jardins Ouverts, which has
donated €25,000 to charity,
€1,500 more than last year.
It means that since it was created in 2013,
the association has been able to hand out
€75,550 in total.
It began when four British gardeners in
the Creuse decided to open their gardens
to see if they could raise money for charity and the idea quickly caught on. There
are now 151 gardens signed up and the
scheme is present in 35 departments and
it encourages gardeners of all nationalities to open up their gardens, big and
small to the public.
Visitors buy a €10 membership card
which gives them access to any of the
gardens for one year or pay €5 for a Day
Pass which allows access to any of the
gardens on the day of purchase. There is
also the €35 Partner Gardens card, which
gives access to privately owned gardens
as well as a growing list of prestigious
French gardens, which are offering Open
Garden members free entry.
40% of gardens are French owned and
it has been welcomed with open arms by
one of France’s most prestigious gardening shows, the bi-annual Journées des
Plantes de Chantilly, held in the grounds
of the château de Chantilly, north-west of
Paris. During the show in October, there
was a ceremony to hand over the money
raised to two of this years fifteen charities,
A Chacun son Everest and Quelque
Chose en Plus.
The main beneficiary
from the start has been,
A Chacun son Everest
which runs courses in
the Alps to help children
and women who are in
remission from cancer
but need help restoring
their confidence after
treatment. It received
€15,000.
Among the other
fourteen charities is Dauphin Corse,
which received €1,000.
It gives financial help towards the treatment of individuals who have an illness
or a handicap and in particular to fund
unforeseen costs, such as an expensive
cure only available in a foreign country.
It is run by an extraordinary man, who
has overcome his own handicap and now
wishes to help others do the same.
Thierry Corbalan, from Ajaccio,

Time to clean your car?
The Assemblée Nationale has voted to
tighten penalties for polluting motor
vehicles, a measure which aims to
encourage the acquisition of so-called
“clean” vehicles.
The car penalty “defines a tax additional
to the tax on vehicle registration certificates on the basis of their carbon dioxide
emissions”, according to the finance bill
for 2019. A key amendment was the lowering of the threshold for the application
of the penalty to 117g of carbon dioxide
per km, from the current 120g.
The government says it hopes to generate additional revenue of €31 million,
which it says will to help finance, and
potentially increase, the buyer’s ‘conver-

Corsica, used to work for the police, but
lost both his arms and a toe after a fishing expedition, when his carbon rod
touched an electricity line as he crossed a
bridge over a railway line. He had always
loved sport and was three times vice-judo
champion for France Police. So just
months after his accident he started running, and then turned to swimming with
a mono-flipper and
set himself astonishing challenges.
In 2017 he swam
80km non-stop
between Montecristo
in Italy and Bastia in
Corsica, which took
him 26 hours. This year
he was one of a team of
four who swam around
Corsica.
He used to raise money through his
challenges for other charities, but in 2012
he decided to set up his own.
“I will help anyone who has a story
which touches me and where I think I
can help. Recently it was for a man in his
sixties who has gallbladder cancer and
the only treatment available was in
Germany where he had to fund the operation himself. A lady from Guadeloupe
Photo: Pixabay

Green news

Photos: Fondation Claude Monet

Jane Hanks speaks to the founder of Open Gardens about another successful year and meets a remarkable beneficiary

“

I have
found that
there are
many,
many
people who
are willing
to give up
their time
for nothing
Mick Moat,
Open Gardens
founder

sion bonus’. It has also called on manufacturers to help with some of the costs.
You can see details of current levels
of ‘bonus’ – including up to €2,500 for
the purchase of an electric car – at
www.primealaconversion.gouv.fr
New eco post for airport politician
Nicole Klein, Prefect of Loire-Atlantique
and the Pays-de-la-Loire region, was due
to retire at the end of November. But
instead, at the age of 66, she became
the new Chief of Staff of Nantes-born
François de Rugy, who was appointed
Minister of Ecological Transition last
September, replacing Nicolas Hulot.
Mrs Klein had previously impressed
ministers with how she handled the
shelving of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes
new airport plan, and she will now be
dealing with equally thorny subjects as
conflicts with France’s powerful hunting

who has a rare tumour needed to come
to Marseille and we paid to enable her
husband to accompany her. For some
years we have supported a young girl,
Chloé Verbauwe, who is unable
to walk and her family cannot pay for
all the costly materials she needs.”
In 2019 he will be sixty and plans to
swim 60km in Lac Léman. He trains by
swimming every day of the year in the
sea as the majority of the money given
out by the association is raised
by Thierry Corbalan himself. However he also has
partners like Open
Gardens and he says he
is very grateful for the
support he has had
since Mick Moat first
contacted him.
The other charities
that Open Gardens supports are Quelque chose en
Plus, €1,500, a centre for
young people with disabilities;
Réseau Bulle, €1,000, a network of assistance and mutual support for families
and individuals affected by autism;
Costello Syndrome, €1,000, gives help for
those with a rare disease which manifests
itself in the first months of life and results
lobby, the limitation of pesticides in agriculture, the future of the French nuclear
fleet and the conversion of coal-fired
power plants.
‘Funnel’ lake dries up due to drought
A lake in the Doubs department of
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté has completely dried up due to the ongoing drought
affecting parts of France, resulting in
thousands of dead fish.
Due to mud hazards (a walker recently
got stuck), visitors are no longer permitted at Lake Bouverans, which is also
known as ‘The Funnel’.
The surface area and water levels of the
lake already change frequently throughout the year, due to the underground
drainage network on which it is located.
The region has been particularly affected by the lack of rainfall this year, with 35
municipalities getting their supply by

in growth and mental retardation; Bouée
d’Espoir, €1,000, eases the difficulties and
despair of those at increasing risk of marginalisation by helping to set them back
on a positive path in life.
A Bras Ouverts, €1,000, organises holidays for young people and children with
disabilities; Chiens Guides €500, trains
and allocates guide dogs for blind and
partially sighted people; Marfan
Syndrome, €500, helps those with a
genetic disorder which affects heart,
lungs, skin, blood vessels, bones, joints
and eyes and can be life-threatening;
Rigolopito, €500, clowns put a smile on
the faces of children in hospital; and the
following are new this year; Dessine moi
un mouton, €500, for families and children with serious illnesses; Rayon de
Soleil, €500, to help with financial costs
for families with children with serious
illnesses such as cancer; MS, Sclérose en
Plaques, €500, multiple sclerosis; Les
P’tits Doudous d’Aliénor, €500, support
for children at Le Mans hospital and
APTED, €500, support group for people
with neuroendocrine tumours.
Next year will see a change as founding
member and President, Mick Moat is
leaving France, as his wife wishes to live
nearer family in the UK. A new President
will be chosen at the AGM in February
and Mr Moat says he is very sad to leave,
but supremely confident that the people
taking over will do a good job.
He says it has been a wonderful experience: “Doing something like this renews
your faith in humanity. I have found out
that there are many, many people who
are willing to give up their time for
nothing and help those less fortunate
than themselves.”
He says he is proud that
nearly 50% of their gardens
are now French owned:
“It is a tribute to the
British that they have
introduced something
new to the French culture, and a tribute to the
French that they have
received this new idea
with open arms.”
He says he hopes more
gardeners will join the scheme:
“Our target for next year is 200 gardens.
We are always looking for more gardeners so welcome anyone who wants to
join. More open gardens means more
money for charity.”
opengardens.eu
mobile water tank. Meanwhile, the
Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume
has said that an agricultural disaster plan
will be put in place for all departments
affected by the drought.
Swimmer swam in ‘plastic soup’
A long-distance swimmer who completed
a tour of France, has said that he swam in
‘plastic soups’ in some areas.
Rémi Camus told the France 5 programme C politique, la suite, that two
places were particularly bad, both of them
in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques: the entrance
to the port of Bayonne, and Hendaye,
right next to the border with Spain.
He said that about “700-800 metres”
from the coast, there is plastic in the
water three metres thick and 40 kilometres long. “There was an open dump
on the Spanish coast that would be used
when sea conditions were favourable.”

Gardening 7

Photos: Cathy Thompson

Photo: Castorama

January 2019 I French Living

Layered benefits of lasagne bed

Grower’s digest
Recycle your Christmas tree
To recycle your sapin (Christmas tree)
quickly and easily for compost, you need
a broyeur végétaux (plant shredder), a
wide variety of which are available to buy
in stores such as Gamm’ Vert, Castorama
and Leroy Merlin.
There are three main types to choose
from: le broyeur à disque porte-lames (a
blade-disc – fast, ideal for small gardens),
le broyeur à rotor (rotor crusher, which
compresses the branches first) or le broyeur à turbine (turbine mill, ideal for very
hard wood). Model shown: Bosch AXT
2550 TC, €419.90; www.castorama.fr.
The woodcutter’s story
An innovative couple of horticulturalists
from Fréjus in the Var have developed a
round-the-clock plant watering system
that could be ideal for people with plants
who are going away on holiday.
The Capill ’O feeds a plant 24 hours a day
by capillary, via a polypropylene wick immersed in a water reserve. The whole thing
is propped up by a frame and plants do
not spoil from direct contact with water.
The innovation won a prize at last
year’s Lépine inventions competition is
currently in production by a Dijon firm.
Prices will vary from €15 to €25.
Under wraps
Keep outdoor
potted plants
and shrubs
warm this
winter with
a breathable
white housse.
Made of 50 g/
m2 non-woven
polypropylene
with UV protection, it measures 200cm high and
costs €9.95. Permeable and resistant, it
lets air, water and light through to keep
your plants healthy. www.truffaut.com

Social media app Instagram is a brilliant way
to enjoy other people’s
gardens in France, with
everyone from chateau
visitors to chambre d’hôtes
owners posting seasonal
snaps of their gardens
(users can search using
the hashtag #jardins).
This month’s pick
features a detail of French
leafy, wintery glory, as
captured by dalpul.

French garden diary

I

t was clear to me from the pleasing
trickle of readers’ courgette and
haricot recipes we received that
more than a few of you are quite
dedicated to your potager.
I increasingly share your passion for
growing my own and imagine that the
influence of my French neighbours –
foodies to a man or woman – has something to do with this. But have you
noticed that there is, in France, a kind of
‘permaculture’ style that was probably
typical decades before the Englishspeaking world discovered it?
The garden as a kitchen resource –
with the gardener as ‘gatherer’ in season,
whether it’s a supply of nuts, fruits, or a
few perennial, leafy crops.
There are many cultivars of perennial
vegetable still popular in France: Chou
perpetual Daubenton (a cabbage that
doesn’t make heads, but is grown for the
young leaves), cardoon, Good King
Henry (a spinach substitute), onions for
many purposes, and lovage or ‘poor
man’s celery’.
If I had any flat land, I’d try growing
vegetables in lasagne beds. I’ll never forget a friend presenting me with the most
superb butterhead lettuces direct from his
lasagne bed – right in the middle of a
drought. These beds are ideally situated
right near the kitchen door, where they
can be watered every day.
Start by creating raised beds in any
shape you fancy – the walls can be of
wood, old brick, roof tiles, even tyres
(with the added advantage of providing
good insulation early in the season). It’s
the produce that counts, rather than the
shape or look of the beds. You don’t have
to lift the turf at the base, but should cut

Attract more wildlife
to your garden
with high quality food, feeders, nest
boxes, plants and more!

visit www.vivara.fr

the grass and remove any really evil
weeds before you start.
Lay a cardboard base and get cracking
on the growing medium for the bed,
alternating layers of woody/carbon-rich
material with layers high in nitrogen. The
first, high-nitrogen, layer is composed of
grass cuttings, weeds, green kitchen
waste, chicken manure, coffee grinds, etc.
Then a carbon layer: shredded woody
prunings, fallen leaves, shredded paper,
dead plant material such as the chopped
stems of your herbaceous plants after the
autumn/winter tidy. Continue to build
these two layers up to as much as
45-60cm in height, and water each layer
before you add the next.
Cover the bed with permeable
landscaping fabric and leave to
bake! Ideally the bed should be
left to mature for a year, but if
you want a start this season,
you can lay an 8-10cm layer of
finished compost/good garden
topsoil and plant into that.
A quick-fix method for creating
vegetable beds that are not raised
(and are less water-retentive than lasagne

“

If I had any flat land,
I’d try growing in
lasagne beds

beds) is to lay sheets of cardboard onto
the ground and then to build up a growing medium by adding a very thick layer
of mushroom compost or a soil/manure
mix on top of the cardboard. This is very
much a no-dig, permaculture type

approach to growing vegetables – they
root into the soil below the cardboard –
and it works impressively well. Not only
does ‘no-dig’ save your back, it also saves
the crucial earthworms.
For those who garden on sloping land
and want to create flat terraces for growing vegetables (again, conserving moisture and making watering easier) you can
do this without the expense of actually
building raised walls.
Try roughly terracing (with a good old
spade!) the site into different flat areas
and lay landscaping fabric on the steep
slopes between each of your ‘flats’.
Through slits in the landscaping fabric you can
plant evergreen shrubs
to create a green
‘wall’ on each slope.
Favour bee plants,
such as santolina,
lavender, hyssop,
thyme, marjoram …
whatever you fancy.
Then, at the top of
each slope create a low
hedge to retain the soil on
your planting terrace.
I used box cuttings, directly stuck in
in autumn from my own plants, but if
you’ve been plagued by the box tree moth
caterpillar, try substitutes such as hebe,
Euonymus japonicus ‘Microphyllus’,
Lonicera nitida, Ilex crenata, or rosemary.
TIPS FOR THE MONTH Don’t forget
to sow onions as early as possible (under
cover, in cell trays in colder areas). Check
newly planted trees and their stakes to
ensure that roots are safe against any
rocking by winter winds and that the tree
trunks are not being damaged. Damage
to the top layer of bark in very young
trees can curtail uptake of water and
nutrients in spring.

8 The big interview

F

or the past nine years, retired
surgeon Dr Bernard Leménager
has willingly flown to war-torn
regions around the world to
offer his medical expertise as
a doctor with arguably the best-known
French charitable organisation, Médecins
sans Frontières (MSF).
“I am 69 now. I used to work in a public
hospital in France,” he said. “I decided to
retire when I was 61 so I could work for
Médecins sans Frontières.
“For the past nine years I have taken
part in five or six missions a year. Half
have been in Africa, and half in the
Middle East – in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.”
Dr Leménager has recently returned
from seven weeks operating and saving
lives in Yemen, where civil war has raged
since 2014 when Houthi rebels, a group
of Shi’ite Muslims from the north, overran the capital and forced President Hadi
to flee. The President had been supported
by Saudi Arabia, which set up a coalition
and began air strikes.
The conflict, which has become known
as the Forgotten War as it has had little
media coverage in the west, has left the
country’s infrastructure in tatters.
MSF calculates that half its medical
structures have been destroyed. In 2017,
the United Nations estimated that – out
of a population of around 27million –
more than 20million were in need of
humanitarian aid.
In October 2018, the UN said the country was about to face one of the biggest
famines for 100 years, with 13million on
the verge of starvation.
MSF has since said that, though there
are huge problems in Yemen, the disaster
is not on that scale. They point out that it
is difficult for journalists to access the
country and for facts to be verified and
there are many no go zones because of
continuous bombing.
The medical charity is one of the few
to have been able to gain access to the
country. It has centres in Houthi territory
to the north, as well as the Saudi coalition-controlled south.
Between March 2015 and May 2018,
MSF treated 81,633 war casualties and
835,333 people in its casualty departments in Yemen, and carried out 64,659
surgical interventions. Another 108,032
were admitted to Cholera Treatment
Centres.
That is just a fraction of the work it
does. In 2018, MSF France undertook
operations in, among others, Gaza,
Central African Republic, Syria, Libya,
Chad, Uganda, and Iraq. It helped
the ship Aquarius save refugees in the
Mediterranean and cared for Rohingya
refugees in Bangladesh. Doctors treated a
new Ebola outbreak in Congo.
In total, it dealt with 10.6million
out-patient consultations and admitted
749,700 patients for treatment.
Dr Leménager has been to Yemen several times and described the hospital he
worked in the last time he was there:
“I was in an MSF hospital constructed
out of tents in Mocha, a small town on

‘We operated
on a man
who was
110, and a
7-month-old
baby who
had been shot
in the stomach’
the Red Sea coast which gave its name to
the coffee it used to export from its port
up to the 18th century.
“It is about four hours from the main
city of Aden in the south and this is the
nearest hospital to the front line of the
war, about two hours to the north. It was
opened in August with an operating theatre, a casualty service, an intensive care
unit and three wards, two for men and
one for women and children.
“In all there are 35 beds and, once treated, patients either stay with us or are
transferred to the bigger 100-bed MSF
hospital in Aden. Though it is under
canvas, conditions are good; there is air
conditioning and it is well equipped.
“Two surgeons and two anaesthetists
share the work, and though we can be
called on at any time, night or day, we do
have time to relax, which is important so
that when we do work, we can do it well.”
Not all the hospital’s patients are a
direct result of the conflict: “We look
after both military and civil casualties,
as there is no longer any other hospital
in the region with facilities for surgery.
“Some patients are war wounded, either
by bullets, shrapnel or by mines, as there
are several of these around. We have
operated on a man for bullet and shrapnel wounds who was 110, and a
seven-month-old baby who had been
shot in the stomach.
“One young boy arrived with a tourniquet around his leg, following a shrapnel
wound. We were able to save his leg and
afterwards he was able to return to his
home. We have Yemen staff and there
was a wonderful physiotherapist, Farouk,
who took great care of him. We also do
other, ‘classic’ surgery for the local population, such as removing appendix and
caesareans so the work is varied.”
Despite the constant threat of violence,
Dr Leménager said he rarely felt in any
danger while working in the war-torn
nation: “There are never too many dangerous situations, though when you go into

“

The
hospital
was right in
the middle
of the two
front lines.
We received
a hundred
wounded
a day

the town there are two problems. One is
crossing the road, because the way they
drive is hair-raising and the other from the
fact that they say that in Yemen there are
more Kalashnikovs than there are homes.
Every family owns at least two or three
and the men walk about with their guns
and fire into the air at random, for fun,
which causes lots of accidents. It is a tradition to do so at weddings and once, three
bullets pierced our tents from one such
occasion. Luckily no-one was hurt.”
In 2015 Dr Leménager
was in Aden during a
battle in the city which
lasted three months:
“The hospital was right
in the middle of the two
front lines.
“We received a hundred wounded a day.
“I was also in Mosul,
Iraq, just after it had
been liberated from
Daesh (ISIS). We were
just six or seven kilometres from the fighting. We took in a great
number of wounded
and it was pretty risky.
“On another occasion
I was in Syria, but we
did not stay very long,
because it was very dangerous. The problem with ISIS / Daesh is that we, as doctors could be a potential target and there
is a real possibility of being kidnapped.
“When you are in places like this there
is always a risk. We leave it to the MSF
organisers who know what is happening
on the ground to assess the situation and
they make sure we are never in too much
danger. We are there to cure, not to fight.”
Dr Leménager may have made light of
the dangers, but it only takes one look at
the facts to realise the risks he and his
colleagues take. In 2016, four medical
units supported by MSF were attacked in
Yemen. One, a hospital in Abs, in the

Photos on this page: Mathieu Fortoul / MSFG and Rémi Decoster

Dr Bernard Leménager
recently returned from
seven weeks in Yemen,
where he worked –
again – with Médecins
Sans Frontières. He tells
Jane Hanks about the
fearless charity’s work

French Living I January 2019

north-west, was hit by an air attack
which left 19 dead and 124wounded. One
of those who died was an MSF employee.
He agrees that not many people in
France know about the extent of the conflict in Yemen. “There has been very little
about it in the media. Not about the war,
nor about the repercussions.
“The health system has been completely
disrupted so that there is very little access
to health care.
“There is immense malnutrition and
cholera epidemics. I think
it is a crisis which is getting more and more
dramatic.”
And he said the work
of MSF was making an
incalculable difference
to the lives of people in
Yemen: “If the hospital
in Mocha was not there,
there would be no surgery, no help for the
wounded, no caesareans. There would be
more deaths.
“The people in Yemen
are really kind and
adorable. They do
everything they can to
make us welcome. And,
when I was in Iraq, just
after the towns had been freed, they
thanked us everywhere we went.”
Médecins sans Frontières is arguably
the best-known French international
charity. It was founded in 1971 in Paris
and for more than 40 years it has been
giving medical aid to people whose life
and health is threatened, mostly by war,
but also by epidemics, natural disasters
and lack of health care. It operates in 72
countries and prides itself on being independent as it is funded by private rather
than government money.
“I did not sign up just to help people,”
Dr Leménager said. “If I had only wanted
to do good works, I could have stayed in

Trending 9

January 2019 I French Living
Charlotte Cady from
online brocante
business Selency

Flea markets move online
– and go upmarket, too...
Jane Hanks talks to the young entrepreneur credited with giving
the traditional French brocante a thoroughly modern new look

#trending

F
on hand so the charity can react rapidly
to any new crisis and stay neutral. It
always tries to have medical centres in
areas supported by both sides of a conflict. It does not have to waste time persuading public bodies to hand over cash.
“Amongst the medical staff there are a
great number of young retired but also
working doctors who take time out of
their annual leave to work for MSF.
“When we do a mission all our expenses are paid, including air fares, board
and lodgings, and we are given a small
sum to cover extra expenses. MSF also
employs local people, so that in Mocha
we had 150 staff, including medical and
administrative workers, and only 10% of
us came from outside Yemen.”
He is 69, so surely it is a huge commitment and physically exhausting? “I will
not be able to keep on doing it for ever,
but while I can, I will.”

Top left, Dr
Leménager operates
on a gunshot victim
in Central African
Republic. Above,
with the boy whose
leg he saved in
Yemen. Below,
carrying out a
consultation at a
hospital in Ivory
Coast shortly after
fighting broke out

Photo: Brigitte Breuillac / MSF

France because there is plenty of misery
here that needs addressing.
“Working for MSF is interesting on a
professional, personal and humanitarian
level. As a doctor you extend your skills
because you see different kinds of
pathologies, and for me it is interesting
because you meet people from all over
the world with different experiences.
“There are MSF staff from the UK,
Armenia, Pakistan, Australia, the United
States and though we are not tourists in
the usual sense it is fascinating to get to
know about people’s way of life in the
different countries we work in.”
Charities are often criticised for the
way they spend their money, but Dr
Leménager feels the MSF does its best:
“It is a huge organisation, but it keeps its
administrative costs to a minimum.
“The fact that 97% of its money comes
from private donors means the money is

ans of vide greniers, flea
markets and brocantes are
buying more and more of their
second hand furniture and
antiques on line.
Rather than getting up early at weekends to stroll around stalls and shops,
they are looking at beautifully presented
objects from the comfort of home, where
they can imagine just where to put this or
that object.
There are a range of sites, with their
own specialities. For example, Luckyfind,
for vintage and quality second-hand;
Atelier du Petit Parc for Fifties and Sixties
objects from France, Belgium, Holland
and Denmark; Design Market for highend pieces, and for those searching
antiques there is Antiquités en France.
‘Label Emmaüs’ was launched by the
charity of the same name in December
2016, and has attracted a new public
to those who already know their second-hand stores (where money from
sales goes to their charity).
Organisers say in the first year they
sold 10,000 items and 25% of buyers had
never bought from Emmaüs before.
One of the first sites – and now one of
the most successful – was Selency. It was
launched by two young entrepreneurs in
2014, Maxime Brousse, passionate about
start-ups and Charlotte Cadé (pictured
above), who has always adored brocantes
and decoration:
“I found I wasted a lot of time going to
brocantes and searching on Ebay, so I set
up a site to make it easier to find what
you want,” Ms Cadé told Connexion.
“It has been a pleasant surprise to see
how popular it has become. We now have
100,000 objects on line, employ 30 people, sell 100 items a day and it is still
growing. We are en plein boom.”
She believes she has introduced a new
approach to buying second hand: “The
emphasis is on decoration, rather than
brocante and we take photos to give ideas
and show what a room could look like.
Our launch coincided with an increasingly eco-responsible public who think that
buying old is better than buying new.”
The site sells a wide range of styles,
with prices ranging from €10-€25,000.
Most sellers are professionals and

Selency takes a commission of 25% but
private individuals can also sell on the
site for a 15% fee. Buyers cover the cost
of delivery.
She agrees it is not the same as finding
the objects yourself and touching them:
“Ten years ago no-one would have
thought it possible to buy online, but this
is another way of buying where you don’t
get dusty, and you can take your time to
decide whether to purchase or not.”
Armel Labbé is a third generation
antiques seller, at La-Chartre-sur-le-Loir,
Sarthe, with a shop that has been in existence since 1925.
Not all dealers welcome the idea of selling on the web, but he says it has brought
a breath of fresh air to the business: “The
Selency story attracted my attention
straight away because I think Charlotte
Cadé has given a new image to brocante,
modernised the job and brought in a new
generation interested in antiques.”
He puts his finds on her site, his own
and on others and around 50% of his
sales are via the internet.

“

Ten years ago no-one
would have thought
it possible to buy
online, but this is
another way of buying

“It has been a massive amount of work.
You now have to photograph your items,
spend time checking the sites and emails
and I now have three rooms dedicated to
packing materials.
“I like to say that a shop is no longer
enough, but that internet is not enough
either, so you need both.”
He says he uses all social media : “My
latest discovery is Instagram. I have posted a photo and found customers outside
my door the next day to buy the item!
“I am thinking of expanding to use
overseas sites, as 2018 has been a difficult
year for everyone. It means I will have to
spend more evenings working up until
midnight, but the internet opens up huge
possibilities for both sellers and buyers.”

10 January What’s on

French Living I January 2019

French new year gets off to a flying start
La Grande Odyssée, Savoie Mont Blanc
January 12–23

Photos: Jiri Vondrak; Inset: Vincent Piccerelle

The Alps’ breathtaking scenery forms the backdrop to this high altitude
dog sled race which sees the best mushers in the world go neck-to-neck
over the course of 12 days. Plunging through more than 700kilometres
of thick snow, the exhilarating race weaves through France’s Savoie and
Haute-Savoie regions, taking in 22 different ski resorts before finishing
in the Savoie gem of Val Cenis Lanslebourg.
La Grande Odyssée is classed as one of the most challenging races of its
kind, both for the tough conditions and the different speed challenges for
each leg of the journey. After a firework display, the race gets underway at
Samoëns passing through the Col du Mont Cenis Base Polaire at 2000
metres, Megève and Les Gets on 15 January.
At each village, spectators can feast on giant tartiflettes and mulled wine
cooked up by local restaurants, while watching the 14 dog-strong sleds fly
by in a flurry of snow. Snowshoeing and wintery walks are on offer or
snuggle up with the pups at the end of their long day of racing.
grandeodyssee.com/en

More January events
Festival Flamenco, Nîmes
January 11 – 19

The fire of the Andalusian dance pulls
Nîmes out of its wintery hibernation,
bringing flamenco’s evocative music
and impassioned dancing to the
Théâtre de Nîmes and other venues.
The city has been showcasing musicians,
dancers and singers for over 20 years,
featuring both emerging and established
artists such as Arcángel (above).
Arrive with castanets and a volley of
“Olé” because this is one not to miss.
theatredenimes.com/festival-flamenco
La La Land ciné-concert, Floirac
January 5
Justin Hurwitz’ jazzy soundtrack is
brought to life by a 75 person-strong
big band playing live as blockbuster La
La Land shows on the big screen.
The Yellow Socks Orchestra accompany the six time Oscar winning film –
including one for the best original
soundtrack.
Sit back and be transported to the land

of showbiz as Emma Stone and Ryan
Gosling tap-dance their hearts out on
the silver screen.
arkeaarena.com/event/la-la-land-cineconcert-billetterie-bordeaux
Carte Blanche to Tomás Saraceno:
On Air, Palais de Tokyo
until January 6
Saraceno’s visionary installations are
closer to science than they are art.
In this immersive, multidisciplinary
exhibition, he continues to examine
humanity’s relationship with airborne
ecosystems – carbon dioxide, cosmic
particles – and ethically reconfigure our
interaction with the planet.
Step inside the silver bubbles, spidery
cobwebs and geometric shapes of this
eco-art project, where workshops,
concerts and public talks transform
the dream-like space into a “cosmic
jam session.”
palaisdetokyo.com/en/event/carte-blanchetomas-saraceno
Foire aux Miel, Lyon, January 12 – 13
Become a veritable bee connoisseur at
this fair, dedicated to the joys of honey.
Organised by the Rhône Bee-keeping
Union, the show covers everything you
could ever need to know about the
sweet sticky stuff, including tastings,
demonstrations and presentations on
the world of apiculture.
rhone.planetekiosque.com/163-513839-5foire-miel.html
Teh Dar Vietnamese Circus, Brest
January 16 – 19
From the highlands of south-west
Vietnam, an impressive performance of
dance, gymnastics and traditional culture
comes to Le Quartz stage.
Vietnamese tribal tales of animal hunts,
the jungle and reincarnation are told
through elegant aerial acrobatics, where
dancers weave hypnotically through
bamboo poles wearing exotic costumes,
accompanied by hauntingly beautiful
Vietnamese flute music.
lequartz.com/Teh-Dar.html

La Semaine Vigneronne, Samoëns
January 17 – 21
Nothing says winter in France like days
spent racing down pistes then fireside
nights with a fine bottle of red.
Combining the best of skiing and
oenology, every evening of winegrower’s
week promises an abundance of good
food, wine and company. As well as the
art of the bottle, there’s visual art too and
winegrowers are more than happy to
share their sommelier knowledge.
winter.samoens.com/event/1/127685winegrowers-week.html
Truffle Festival, Sarlat
January 20 – 21
In the heart of the Périgord, spend a
weekend in celebration of two prized
French delicacies: the black truffle and
foie gras.
Wander around the market, pausing
to notice subtle differences in truffle
varieties (usually by their aroma) and
watch the fungus sell for eye-wateringly
high prices.
Cooking workshops reveal the secret to
concocting truffle-flavoured dishes and
demonstrations explain how specially
trained dogs hunt for them, known as the
‘cavage.’ French cuisine does not get more
rich and flavoursome than foie gras, so
expect to return home well satisfied.
sarlat-tourisme.com/fete-de-la-truffe-sarlat
Le Festival International de la Bande
Dessinée, Angoulême
January 24 – 27
Since 1974, visitors have been flocking to
Angoulême in celebration of France’s 9th
art. From satirical comics for adults to
children’s educational fiction (a copy of
Astérix and Obélix can be found in every
French home) the ‘BD’ as they are known,
have a cult following both in France and
in many countries around the world.
Inside huge festival tents, there are
comic book signings, debates, workshops,
conferences and artists unveiling their
latest projects while illustrated concerts
are dotted around the city.
bdangouleme.com

La Saint-Vincent Tournante, Vézelay
January 26 – 27
Each year this travelling festival is held
in a different village in Burgundy, hence
the name ‘tournante.’ The festival of wine
dates back to the Medieval era and this
year, Burgundy’s winegrowers will unite
in the idyllic village of Vézelay, to thank
the patron saint of the wine harvest.
Burgundy’s heavy-hitters: Nuits Saint
Georges, Chablis and Mercurey are
honoured during dinners, processions
and tastings. It is a great chance to
discover some of the region’s lesser
known – but equally good – vintages.
vezelay2019.fr
Le Festival International du Film
Fantastique, Gérardmer
January 30 – February 3
The ski resort of Gérardmer in Vosges
turns into an unexpected cultural hub
when 100 showings of fantasy films are
projected across the big screens of four
movie theatres.
European and Asian films are shown in
their original versions with subtitles and
it is a good opportunity to catch new
material pre-release.
There are also sculptures, literature,
theatre and fantastical street
performances, as well as video gaming
and speciality make-up booths.
festival-gerardmer.com
Chagall, Du noir et blanc à la couleur,
Aix-en-Provence, until 24 March
Picasso said “Chagall will be the only
painter left who understands what
colour really is” and his colourful
paintings provide the perfect break
from wintery weather.
Chagall was part of many artistic
movements, from Cubism to Fauvism
and Expressionism, working with an
astounding diversity of techniques.
Inside the magnificent 18th century
Hôtel de Caumont, 130 works of art
from the second half of Chagall’s life
explore his oscillations between intense
colour and monochrome etchings.
caumont-centredart.com/node/1530

The Connexion works
with local tourist offices
for the information on
this page. Due to
possible last-minute
changes to programmes
and event timing we
recommend that you
always check with
individual organisers
before making a trip.

What’s on/Cultural digest 11

January 2019 I French Living

Dressing up, quietening down

A round-up of news, and those creating ‘le buzz’ in French cultural life

4. The silent treatment
Sharp-witted satirist Florence Foresti
became the first French performer to ban the use of
mobile phones at concert venues when she played two soldout Paris show in December.
Patrons were invited to leave
their mobile phones in a special area containing individual
electronically sealable ‘Yondr’
pouches – and were not able
to access them until after the
show or, exceptionally, in case
of emergency.
The aim, said a statement on
her website, was “to avoid pirate recordings and ensure a link with the audience”.
US rocker Jack White used the same system when he played the city’s Olympia in
July 2018.

Photo: Mucem/Lisa Ricciotti

2. Small screen, bigger future
Ile-de-France’s smallest cinema – housed
in a former barn – which was under
threat of closure due to lack of funding,
has been saved thanks to new subsidies.
The 50-seat art-house cinema in Monsen-Montois, a small village in Seine-etMarne with less than 500 inhabitants,
was opened in 2002 by Michel Le Clerc,
a former documentary director.
Part of the deal, agreed with the local
Pôle Emploi, will see the cinema’s projectionist retained for six months on a salary of €800 for a 26-hour week, with 70%
of it covered by the State.
On average, 175 local film goers attend
screenings at the picture house each
week. Donations can be made via www.
cinemons.fr and are 66% tax deductible.

On danse? Mucem Marseille
23 January – 20 May
“Alors on danse,” says Stromae, one of France’s favourite singers.
In the spirit of Stromae, Marseille’s newest cultural institution
le Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée
unveils ‘On danse?’ Inside the iconic waterfront building,
the plethora of ways in which the human body can move are
explored through film, documentary, sound tracks, ethnographic clips and sculptures (left). It is a relaxing experience: stand
up, lie down or sit down in the immersive exhibition space.
Dance is traditionally practiced in world cultures, employed in
contemporary parties and is a natural part of human movement
and social exchange. It is as prevalent in the every day as it is in
raves, formalised choreography and carefully rehearsed performances. The exhibition takes the three pillars of space, time and
body to ask the question ‘how do we dance?’
www.mucem.org/en

3. Le Bataclan is back
Le Bataclan rock venue, which was the
scene of a deadly terrorist attack in 2015,
began a new chapter in its history in
November with new owners (the
Lagardère group) and a new woman at
its helm – Florence Jeux, former director
of the annual Francofolies music festival
in La Rochelle.
The concert hall in the 11th arrondissement, which was completely renovated in
the months after the tragedy of

Christie’s auction house in Paris is in
charge of the sale of coats, dresses and
accessories, with half of them being sold
online and the other half in its salons.
The actress was styled by YSL both off
and on screen, notably when she played
the secret call-girl in 1967’s Belle de Jour.
“These are the creations of such a talented man who only created to make
women more beautiful,” said the 75-yearold, who first met the designer aged 22.

1
La Folle Journée, Nantes, 30 January until February 3
Nantes hums with the sound of classical music during La Folle
Journée, which sees nearly 250 classical music concerts unfold
over the course of five days. Short, bite-sized performances of 45
minutes come with a very reasonable price tag while for enthusiasts or for budding enthusiasts, there are plenty of opportunities
to chat with composers and musicians.
The festival also pledges to support emerging musicians. Since
it started in 1995, La Folle Journée aims to make classical music
accessible to the widest possible audience. This year’s edition is
dedicated to musical creations born during travelling, modelled
on Mozart’s symphonies that were inspired by his voyages across
Europe, in particular to Prague and Paris.
In addition to Nantes, this year the music can be heard in concert
halls across 11 towns in the Pays de Loire, from January 25 to 27.
La Folle Journée has also taken place in Spain, Poland and Japan.
follejournee.fr/en

November 13 2015, symbolically reopened with a concert by Sting on the day
before the first anniversary of the attacks.
90 concert goers were killed by gunmen while watching a gig by US group
Eagles of Death Metal.

Photo: Still from Belle de Jour

1.Frocks for the memories
French actress Catherine Deneuve will
have plenty of wardrobe space at the end
of this month, as around 300 items of her
clothing, all made by Yves St Laurent,
will be auctioned off.
Many of the pieces being sold are
bespoke creations by the bespectacled
haute couture icon, who died in 2008.

5

12 Recipes

French Living I

When Ritz met Escoffie
Jean-François Mesplède on the unique chemistry between two giants
of the hotel and culinary worlds that combined to luxurious effect

T

he partnership between
César Ritz and Auguste
Escoffier, sealed in
Monte Carlo, was one
of the most fortunate
events in their lives,” said Ritz’s wife
Marie-Louise. She goes on to say that
although Ritz had fully grasped the
importance of exceptional cuisine
during his years at the Grand Hôtel
de Lucerne, he constantly ran up
against obstacles when attempting to
put the theory into practice.
As for Escoffier, his lack of understanding prevented him from fully
exercising his considerable talents.
From the moment they met, their
compatibility worked its chemistry.
So while César Ritz knew exactly
how to taste a new sauce and give
useful advice on making it, Auguste
Escoffier could advise him on the size
of dishes and bowls.
Both innovators, Ritz was brimming
over with ideas on building and furnishing hotels, the choice of staff uniforms down to the smallest details,
and Escoffier was already reflecting
on the indispensible reorganisation of
the kitchens, an operation he carried
out a few years later.
To quote Marie-Louise Ritz again:
“they both adored simplicity.” With
one man intent on getting rid of ridiculous baubles and faded fabrics, the
other was eliminating indigestible garnishes that enhanced nothing, simplifying the menus, going so far as to
turn his back on some of Antonin
Carême’s edicts from the previous century that he now considered obsolete.
While César was studying the
hygienic measures to establish in
hotels, Auguste was reflecting on the
digestive and nutritional aspects of the
food he would serve to his clients. A
veritable revolution was taking place
in the hotel and restaurant businesses,
with the two men who welcomed the
most illustrious personalities to their
establishment taking the lead.
In the Guide culinaire, subtitled
Aide-mémoire de cuisine pratique,
begun in 1898 and finally prefaced on
November 1, 1902, Auguste Escoffier
gave a wealth of know-how and recipes to cooks. He stressed the importance of simplifying the outward
trappings of cuisine. This would not

“

The tables were
returned to the
workshop to
have their legs
shortened by
barely an inch

with just a hint of irony,
said, “Why not call it
‘Grand Marnier’?”
Lapostolle agreed enthusiastically. Many years later,
the liqueur was earning
him a fortune. So when
Ritz, Lapostolle’s good
angel, asked him for help,
the rich man readily
advanced him the money
he needed to finance the
eight-day option.
César Ritz then resigned
from
the Savoy, retaining
Partners César Ritz and Auguste Escoffier
the right to found hotels
anywhere he pleased, on either side
mean that it would be devalued –
of the Atlantic. For the moment, he
quite the contrary. Since tastes are
was starting in Paris. Escoffier was of
perpetually becoming more refined,
course embarking on the adventure
cooking must become more refined
with him. He still had to find a good
to satisfy them.
architect. Ritz knew precisely what
And now to the Ritz we must go. At
was required to fit out a hotel with
the Savoy, Ritz and Escoffier introthe greatest elegance, but he admitted
duced the English to the art of fine
that he had no idea where to begin.
dining. Gourmets flocked to the stylBy chance, Charles Mewès crossed
ish dining room. Benoît-Constant
his path. He was just the right man.
Coquelin and Bernhardt, the wellRitz explained to him that he wanted
known actors, made a point of
his hotel to be the ultimate in elepatronizing the restaurant whenever
gance, the first truly modern hotel in
they were in London. “Boni” de
Paris: “My hotel must be the last word
Castellane, politician, writer, dandy,
in modernity. Mine will be the first
and esthete, had his usual table there.
modern hotel in Paris, and it must be
It was said that thanks to its very
hygienic, efficient, and beautiful.”
capable management and excellent
Ritz did not want the establishment
kitchens, the Savoy was pushing the
to resemble a grand hotel; rather, it
borders of France as far as London.
should have the atmosphere of an
There, Escoffier created the filets de
aristocratic home, one where several
sole Coquelin, homard aux feux étergenerations had been living happily.
nels, la volaille à le Derby, and les cuiThe smallest details that would prosses de nymphes à l’aurore, which had
vide comfort were given close attenthe Prince of Wales himself tasting
tion; the kitchens were equally imporfrogs’ legs. It was there, too, that he
tant. Escoffier provided his wealth of
created the famous Peach Melba that
experience, and Ritz took a close
would appear on the Ritz menu.
interest in the ovens and iceboxes,
Yes, the Ritz. For many years, César
asking the technician who was installRitz thought longingly of Paris, a city
ing the appliances endless questions.
he had fallen in love with at a young
The main dining room, called the
age. It was his hope to create the perRégence, which opened onto a large
fect hotel there, one that would be difgarden, also involved lengthy discusferent from all those he had managed
sion between Marie-Louise Ritz and
until then. At place Vendôme, the
the two men. They were well aware
building adjacent to the Ministry of
that the surroundings in which the
Justice had just been put up for sale.
cuisine would be served were nearly
What Ritz wanted was to establish his
as important as the cuisine itself.
hotel there. It would be the ne plus
On June 1, 1898, every detail was
ultra of elegance, combining every
ready for a memorable inauguration.
refined amenity that a prince could
Up until the last minute, César Ritz
dream of having in his own abode.
bustled about, rectifying details here
This was a fine idea but one on
and there. He realised that if half the
which the partners of the Ritz Hotel
chairs were transformed into armCompany were not too keen. The
chairs, guests would linger longer at
price for the “small building” was too
the table, so he returned them to the
high for what they wanted. Ritz did
cabinetmaker to add armrests and
not give up, and in the end, the day
upholster them with the right fabric.
was saved by nothing other than a
The tables were judged to be too
liqueur. It is a story worth telling...
high and uncomfortable. They were
When he was at the Savoy, an indusreturned to the workshop to have
trialist by the name of Marnier
their legs shortened by barely an inch
Lapostolle introduced himself to
César Ritz one day. He had just creat- and delivered in the nick of time to
be installed in the dining room,
ed a liqueur, which he wanted his
where they were hastily covered
opinion on. Ritz approved heartily
with Damascus linen and laden with
of the drink, complimenting the man
shining silver and delicately engraved
who, pleased with himself, asked him
crystal, certain to satisfy the crowd of
if he could suggest a name for it.
eminent personalities gathered for
César Ritz eyed Marnier Lapostolle,
this prestigious event.
a short, pretentious gentleman, and,

for 10 minutes. Char the onion
on the burner until black, and
e half-onion with cloves.
d wash all the other vegetables.
the carrots and celery, and tie
s into a bundle. Add all the
c garnish to the pot, with the
on of the salt. Simmer gently for
hours. Season with salt after 1
cooking time. Skim the scum
off regularly. Finally, carefully
he broth.

n the beef chuck in a pot with
eanut oil. Add the aromatic
sh (onions, carrots, celery, and
). Pour in the red wine and beef
ommé. Add the herbs. Simmer
y, with the lid on, for 3 hours.
ove the beef chuck. Strain the
d, and reduce the sauce until it
ck and tasty.
he beef into thick slices, and
ge the truffle and Comté cheese
on top of each piece of meat.
under the grill for a few seconds.
the asparagus in salted boiling
for a few seconds. Refresh them;
sauté them in the butter in a pan.
he artichokes, and dip them in
with the juice of 1 lemon. Cook
in a pan with the olive oil. They
d retain their crunch. Season
salt and pepper.
ate: Place a serving of beef
the melted cheese on each plate.
nge the asparagus and sautéed
hokes on the side. Add a pool of
auce.

Photo: Chinkerfly/Flickr

er

The carnivore’s classic
that evokes raw emotions
In our series providing a sideways look at French food,
we examine the ever-divisive, uncooked steak tartare

iven the inexorable spread of
veganism and vegetarianism
(France, perhaps surprisingly,
is included in this unstoppable rise), it is likely that one
day – perhaps sooner than we all think –
meat-eaters will be in the minority.
And when that comes to pass, one of
the off-menu, naughty, morally dubious,
seemingly rank, or plain odd-yet-delicious
dishes that any self-respecting carnivore
might seek out, is steak tartare.
Its concept, with origins in Eastern Europe and later the USA, is certainly wacky,
if straightforward. Like a deconstructed
hamburger, it is a mix of seasoned and
chopped steak with a few flavour-giving
trimmings such as capers, Worcestershire
sauce and onion mixed in, and topped with
a raw egg yolk to be stirred through at the
last minute, for added goo and goodness.

When the dish first appeared in the
French foodie bible, Escoffier’s Le Guide
Culinaire, in 1921 it was called steack à
l’Americaine and served sans egg yolk. Its
name referred to the tartar sauce (a gherkin mayonnaise) it was served with. By
1938’s edition this had morphed into the
dish we know today, but ‘tartar’ stuck.
Some people worry about steak tartare’s
associated health risks and while properly
kept raw meat is fine, those with weak
immunity might want to steer clear. The
advice is: if making your own, always try
to buy the very freshest, high quality meat.
Be it a moral or animal welfare stance
that drives a vegetarian switch, or other
environmental concerns about the impact
of epic-scale cattle rearing, meat-free living
is here to stay. Steak tartare, like the edible,
Armagnac-soaked finch ortolan (illegal, of
course) and foie gras (clinging to legality
but still widely enjoyed in France) will
become even dirtier words.
What odds on Paris being home to
blacked-out, sidestreet speak-easys for
steak tartare aficionados in the year 2070?

Gadget inspector

Now available

Warm the heart with a
raclette... by candlelight

Ale and hearty: new beer
range suits British taste

In ski chalets across France, weary skiers
are tucking into cheesy raclette suppers
this winter, to replenish energy levels. But
why not give the soirée a modern twist
with this stylish, foldable ‘Yeti’ set from
Cookut, a Lyon company founded by
three young innovators.
It uses tea lights to heat a small tray full
of unctuous cheese – wait for it to melt
then spoon over your meat and potatoes!
Also available in baby blue and pink.
€14.95 per tray from www.cookut.com.

The penchant for craft ales is booming
in France (see Trending in our October
edition), so much so that Casino supermarkets now have their own ‘cave à bières’
(beer cellar) instore.
The firm has worked with two breweries
and a ‘bièrologue’ to launch a range of
artisanal beers (€2 for 33cl) called La Collective du Houblon. Featuring hoppy tipples which will be familiar to British beer
drinkers, they even have English names,
such as Amber Ale, IPA and Golden Ale.

Method for the puff pastry
1. A day ahead, prepare a beurre manié: use the dough hook of your mixer to
combine the cake flour and the butter. Spread out the beurre manié to form a
square. Cover with waxed paper, and chill.
2. To make the détrempe (the dough before the butter is incorporated): still using the
dough hook, combine the water and salt, and then the stoneground flour with the
melted butter. Do not overmix. Cover in plastic wrap, and chill.
3. The next day, envelope the détrempe (the second mixture) within the first (the
beurre manié). Roll out, and fold over twice. Leave to rest. An hour and a half
later, roll and fold two more times. An hour and a half later, repeat.
An hour and a half later, roll out the dough to make an even sheet of puff pastry
(less than 2mm thick).
4. Place this sheet of pastry between 2 sheets of waxed paper on a baking sheet. Set
a wire rack over it, and bake at 175°C for about 45 minutes, until the pastry is a
nice golden colour.
5. When done, cut out 12 rectangles, 15 x 3.5cm). Sprinkle with icing sugar through
a small strainer, and bake at 240 °C for 2-to-3 minutes to caramelize the pastry.
Remove from the oven, and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Method for the pastry cream
1. Scrape out the vanilla seeds into the milk, and bring the milk and butter, with
the vanilla seeds and bean, to a boil. Whip the egg yolk with the sugar until pale
and thick. Add the cornstarch and flour. Mix again until smooth. Pour the boiling
milk over the egg mixture; then return mixture to the saucepan, and cook for
three minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat, and
add the gelatine, whisking so that no lumps form.
2. Transfer the pastry cream to a pastry dish. Cover with plastic wrap flush with
the surface, removing any air bubbles, and place in the refrigerator to cool
completely. When the pastry cream is cool, transfer it to a bowl, and whip again
until perfectly smooth.
3. Beat the whipping cream, and carefully fold it into the vanilla pastry cream. Chill
until needed.
To assemble the mille-feuille
Spoon the pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a 12mm tip, and pipe
out two lines onto a rectangle of caramelized pastry. Repeat the procedure a
second time, and sandwich four layers together. Top with a layer of puff pastry.

High-end olive oil is
all the rage in France.
Jane Hanks visits a
producer in Corsica
and learns about the
pressing process

T

he very first olives in France
are harvested in October,
but the main period is from
November to January, with
some picked right up to May.
The timing depends on the variety of
tree, method of harvesting and the local
climatic conditions.
It is very unlikely, however. that the
olive oil you buy will come from France
as the country produces just 0.16% of the
world’s olive oil, and just 4% of the oil
consumed in France. Most of it comes
from Spain. Overall olive oil prices are
going up and due to climatic problems
2016/2017 was disastrous with just 3,000
tonnes produced compared to 6,000
tonnes in 2015/2016.
It is thought this year’s harvest will be
better. In France, concentration is mainly
on oils of quality and 27% of oils have an
AOP label. There are four regions: 66%
is produced in PACA, 20% in Occitanie,
10% in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and 4%
in Corsica.
Though production is small in Corsica,
it is an area where the production of olive
oil is on the increase and where olive oil
of a very high quality is being produced
after years of abandon. Trees over a
thousand years old are still producing
fruit and new varieties, specific to the
island have been developed by agricultural researchers and from 2017 have been
planted for future crops.
Up until the 1980s the production of
oil on the island had dwindled to almost

“

Olive producers
say there are at
least as many
types of oil as
there are wines

zero from a flourishing commerce at the
beginning of the twentieth century due to
the two World Wars, the rural exodus and
the economic depression.
Now it has an AOP label,
with 176 producers
selling 127,000 litres
a year at an average
price of €20 a litre.
Daniel Cartayrade was one of the
first Corsicans to
see the potential of
the island’s thousands
of neglected olive trees:
“The extraordinary virtue
of the olive tree is that it hardly ever
dies”, he says, “so with a little pruning
and clearing away of the undergrowth
the trees were still there to give us their

olives. Some of the trees I look after are
700, 800 or even 1,000 years old.”
There are two ways of harvesting olives
in Corsica, and bottles are labelled
according to the method used; either
Recolte sur l’arbre or Recolte à l’ancienne.
Mr Cartayrade inherited his passion for
olives from his grandmother and sticks
to the old ways, and was one of only six
producers to do so in 2017.
“In February, where I live at Zilia up in
the mountains of the Balagna region in
the North east, the olives start to ripen
up. I put nets around the trees and let the
olives fall naturally when they are ripe.
Every evening I check the nets and nearly
every day I have enough to take to the
mill.”
Because all the olives are ripe when they
are collected the resulting oil is soft and
rounded with hints of the flavours of the
surrounding aromatic plants which the
fruit readily absorbs. The disadvantage is
that it is labour intensive and as the tree is
left to its natural life cycle it only produces fruit every two years.
“For me it is a positive decision to let
the trees continue to live at their own
rhythm”, says Mr Cartayrade. “I do not
water them or add fertiliser, though I
have to treat them against the olive fruit
fly, but only when absolutely necessary. I
think it gives a better oil, less bitter and
more in line with tradition.”
From 60 trees, he produces between
1,500 and 2,000 litres, which sells quickly because of its quality, but he cannot
make a living wage from it and has
a daytime job.

From one oil to another

The President of the Syndicate
for olive producers in Corsica is
Sandrine Marfisi. She originally
worked in marketing for an international oil company but gave it up when
she married a Corsican. For the past
fifteen years her workplace has been in
the most beautiful of sites imaginable,
an olive grove by the Mediterranean,
the silvery leaves of the trees reflecting

Above: Olives that
fall naturally are
ripe and produce a
soft and rounded
oil, while some are
sharper using the
modern method of
shaking the olives
off using a machine
(right); Inset:
Sandrine Marfisi,
President of
Corsica’s olive oil
producers’ syndicate

against the deep blue of the sea beyond.
She has older existing trees but has also
planted new trees and grafted new plants
on old trunks. She produces 3,000 litres
a year from six hectares and her oil has
won many prizes, including gold from
the prestigious Paris International Agricultural Show. She needs on average 5kg
of olives to produce one litre of oil.
She harvests her olives using a hand
held machine which both vibrates the
branches and combs the fruit off into the
nets below, so all the olives from one tree
are collected at the same time. Though
still extremely physical work, with seven
hour days going from one tree to another, it is more
economically
viable than the
older method,
and the one used
the most widely.
Because all
the olives are
harvested in one
go, fertilisers are
used and high
producing varieties chosen,
the tree will
produce olives every year.
Some pesticides are used against the
olive fruit fly. Not all the olives are ripe
when picked which means the resulting
oil is sharper. As you taste it, the oil has a
smooth flavour at the front of the mouth,
with a spicy kick as it reaches the back of
the palate. Olive producers say that there
are at least as many tastes and types of oil
as there are wines.
Mrs Marfisi has her own mill, which
is unusual, but as she has a favourable
position on the coast her olives are the
first to ripen in October and the 28 AOP
approved mills on the island are not yet
in full production.
Old traditional mills with stone wheels
have now been replaced by modern aluminium ones, which do the same job but
reach European standards. “The olives
are milled on the same day they

are picked,” says Mrs Marfisi. “This is
important as they quickly lose their
health and taste benefits.
First they are washed and all the
leaves, dust and twigs removed. They are
ground into a pulp and then pass into
a chamber with a bain-marie where the
water is heated to a maximum allowed
temperature for AOP olive oil of 27°C.
The pulp is churned in this chamber for
30 minutes. It then goes into a turbine
where the oil is separated and siphoned
off into tanks. Later on I will blend the
oils to make up what will be that year’s
oil, which is then filtered before bottling.
Every year it will be different.”
She also explained that the terms Virgin and Extra Virgin
olive oil are strictly
regulated by European law which relate
to the composition
of the oil. The faster
the olive is turned
into oil, the lower the
acidity level and the
greater benefits for
health and flavour.
Extra Virgin must
have an acidity level
less or equal to 0.8%
and Virgin must have an acidity level less
or equal to 2%.
She also explained that the term ‘cold
pressed oil’ is no longer relevant as modern mills are so efficient that they can
extract nearly all the oil from the olives
in the first pressing. In the old mills the
producers would reheat the pulp after the
first extraction and then press it a second
time to get higher yields, and the superior oil came from the first, cold pressing.

Conservation advice: Keep oil away
from direct light and heat. Close the bottle well after each use. Avoid changes in
temperature. It is best to eat Extra Virign
oil within 18 months of bottling and Virgin Oil within 12 months. Corsican olive
oil is best eaten uncooked on salads and
as a dressing on fish or poultry dishes.

Photo: Chocolatrium Atelier

M

arc Cluizel and his sisters Sylvie and Catherine
are the third generation
to run Manufacture
Cluizel, the family choc-

Photo: Cluizel

olate business.
“My grandparents created the company,
my grandfather was a pâtissier from
Lyon,” says Marc. “His wife Marcelle ran
a sweet shop, and together they set up a
combined pâtisserie, chocolaterie and delicatessen in Rambouillet.
“After the First World War, they moved
to Paris but in the currency crash and
subsequent inflation, they lost most of
their money. Then suddenly my grandmother inherited a house in Damville,
in Normandy. So he decided to make his
filled chocolates there, and supply them
wholesale to other shops. Gradually, the
business grew and by 1964 the company
had 50 employees.”
The company was eventually taken
over by Marc’s father, and in time by
Marc and his sisters and today, fulfilling
their grandparents’ dream, they have five
shops in Paris. “We own the company
together. We all live in the shops and own
them. Sylvie does the finance, Catherine
manages the shops in Paris, I deal with
the manufacturing side.”
The family have established two ‘chocolatriums’; one in Damville and one in
Berlin, USA (just south of New York).
“They are like a cross between a museum
and a workshop where people can come
and learn about chocolate tasting and
about the difference between the chocolates we make and others. We explain the
difference between Cluizel chocolate and
other chocolate.”
One of the company’s particularities is
that Marc Cluizel buys directly from the
cocoa farmers, cutting out the middlemen. “Cocoa growers get around €1-2
per kilo from a negotiator, but I buy
direct and pay them around €5-7 per kilo.
I pay a fair price because I know the work
involved. And, of course, it means we use
sustainably farmed beans and I can
demand the best quality. We’re the only
family company in the world which
makes chocolate from beans bought
direct from planters selected by word
of mouth, and sealed by a handshake.”
Cluizel’s chocolatrium and boutique
in Damville, Eure, is open all year
round (Tuesday-Saturday) and makes
a fascinating visit for all the family.
See www.cluizel.com for addresses and
opening hours of their Paris shops.

Artisan cheese
of the month:
Chevrotin
Photo: www.chevrotin-aop.fr

Meet the producers

Many factors contribute to a wine’s
final sale price, and not just for
top end bottles such as Mouton
Rothschild and Margaux (inset)

Photos: Pixabay

Wine and Cheese 15

January 2019 I French Living

With production techniques dating back to the
17th century, this goat’s
cheese from the Alps is
made from the milk produced by a single herd of
goats, 80% of which must
be from the same breed
of alpine chèvre.
It is formed into a
convex disk shape not
dissimilar to its more famous winter counterpart
Reblochon – the staple of
skier’s favourite tartiflette
made with cow’s milk.
Unusually for a goat’s
cheese, Chevrotin is
an uncooked, pressed
cheese. It is designated
an AOP – Appellation
d’Origine Protégée.
You can buy in situ
throughout Savoie, such
as from husband and wife
producers Gérard et Caroline Cruz-Mermy at La
Chèvrerie des Thoules.

Local speciality:
Rillons confits

Rillons confits from
Vouvray in the Loire
are made from deboned
pork shoulder which is
cooked low and slow,
resulting in melt-in-themouth tenderness. Two
added twists: the meat is
given yet more flavour
from the caramelised
cooking juices and
further enhanced by the
addition of local wine.
To serve, it can be gently
reheated in a bain-marie
and eaten with mashed
potatoes. Available
in 450g jars from
www.bienmanger.com

How much should a bottle of wine cost?
Jonathan Hesford reveals the hidden costs that dictate a bottle’s final price tag
A year in the vineyard

I

often get asked, both by visitors to
my winery and by friends outside
the wine world, “How come some
wines cost so much more than
others? Can they really be worth
that much money?”
It is often a difficult question to answer
because it becomes a personal issue
based on wealth and how much they
know and love about wine.
Some people try to work out how
much a bottle of wine should cost based
on how much it costs to make. Some by
trying to find an objective level of its
quality. For lower-priced wines, this can
be done to some extent but once we get
into higher-priced wines, desirability
and rarity take over. This month we will
look at the costs of producing a bottle of
wine. Next month we will look at why
the price asked for that wine may have
little to do with the cost of production.
Looking at basic level wines – the kind
99% of people buy and drink – we can
use production costs to work out the
lowest price it could be sold for and see
how additional costs add to the price.
We can add up the costs of all the work
in the vineyard, from pruning through
to harvest, and divide that by the yield.
Those costs will differ depending on the
amount of care or the difficulty of the
growing conditions. A meticulously
tended organic vineyard on a steep slope
costs twice as much to run than a mechanised one on flat land. Yields can vary

“

The value of a bottle
of wine is not how
much it costs but
how much people
are prepared to
pay for it

from as low as 15hl/ha for old vines in
dry, stony soils to over 100hl/ha for productive vines in fertile soils. So the yield
is more important than the methods of
farming. So the cost of producing the
grape juice could be anything from
€0.20 to €3.60 per bottle.
Winemaking costs are perhaps more
standardised but making vast quantities
is cheaper than working with small volumes. Winemaking equipment is expensive but it’s a long term-investment so
difficult to cost the production of a
bottle but it is probably somewhere
between 5c and 25c. Ageing in new oak
barrels is the most expensive extra cost.
A new barrel adds about €2.50 to the
cost of a bottle. Hiring a top consultant
oenologist can also add significantly to
the expenses.
Bottling costs are also volume dependent and types of bottle, label and cork
can increase the cost but we are
still talking about relatively
small differences. At the bottom end, with millions of
similar bottles, plastic
corks and cheap labels it
probably costs about 30c
per bottle. For a small run
with heavy-weight, custom
bottles and the most expensive corks and labels, we
could be reaching €4.50.
So we can work out that making a
basic wine from the highest-yielding,
mechanised vineyard and cutting as
many costs as possible in the winery and
packaging, we arrive at a figure around
€0.55. Meanwhile a low-yielding, meticulously hand-tended vineyard whose
fruit is handled in small volumes with
ageing in new barrels and packaged in
the most luxurious fashion could cost as
much as €12 to produce.
So that gives us some idea of how the
cost of producing a wine can vary. Yet it
does not explain why some wines cost
considerably more than €12 to buy.
That is because we have not included
any capital costs for the purchase of the
vineyard land, the winery or any of the
administrative and financial overheads.
We have not included any profit for the
producer. Nor have we looked at getting
that wine to the consumer and encouraging them to buy it.

A hectare of vines can cost as little as
€8,000 in the Languedoc to around a million in regions like Burgundy, Northern
Rhône, Pauillac and St-Emilion.
Investments in land are often ignored
when costing wine but it stands to reason
that wine from a hugely expensive piece
of land would cost a lot more than one
from a cheap, readily available plot.
Shipping wine, even half way around
the globe, is relatively cheap. Probably
no more than 75c per bottle if done in
large volumes. However, getting that
wine into a shop may involve it passing
through several hands, each of which
takes a cut, adding between 10% and
120% to the cost. France has a low level
of duty on wine, only about 3c per bottle. But the UK and Ireland tax wine
often many times its cost. The duty on
wine in Britain is £2.16 a bottle and VAT
is applied to that and all the other costs.
Getting people to buy the wine
does not come for free either.
Wineries work on giving
away between 10 and
15% of their production
in samples of some
kind. Entering competitions, entertaining critics and potential customers, attending wine fairs
and employing sales and
marketing staff adds to the
cost of the wine. Add in advertising
and we can be talking several Euros per
bottle. Getting people to pay more
money costs more money. I once saw
costings for a $100 Napa Valley
Cabernet where the majority of the costs
were the salaries of the consultant winemaker and the salesman.
When you consider all those factors, it
is easy to see how a wine can easily triple
in cost before it reaches the consumer.
However, the value of a bottle of wine
is not how much it costs, it is how much
people are prepared to pay for it. Next
month I will talk about how that value
can be distorted and what good value
actually means in the world of wine.
Jonathan Hesford has a Postgraduate
Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology and
is the winemaker of Domaine Treloar in
the Roussillon – www.domainetreloar.com.
If you have questions on this column,
email him at info@domainetreloar.com

Maureen Footer reveals
how the Provençal
hideaway of fashion
designer Christian Dior
inspired his work

A

t physical remove from Paris
and light-years from the action on the Côte d’Azur, the
nineteenth-century bastide
La Colle Noire, near Grasse,
emanates the spirit of Dior. Its vineyards,
olive groves, Renaissance stone lions, and
shaded Italian garden mingle past with
present. Cool tiled hallways, glimpses of
linen velvet, and Emilio Terry influences
add calm and charm. If his house in Passy
was a civilized nest amid the demands of
Paris and Le Moulin du Coudret represented an escape from the city, La Colle
Noire, with its solid dignity, was Dior’s
chosen home.
Purchased in 1950, the coaching inn
turned manor house was Dior’s final
domestic creation, and still a work in
progress at the time of his death in 1957.
Just as another of his last creations – the
1957 city dress “Palais de Glace,” with tidy
bodice, slender sleeves, and meticulously
gathered skirt – signalled in its sobriety,
beauty, and understatement a return
to the vision of 1947, the stone house
represented permanence. Its atmosphere
of storied family house, mixing antiques
with the occasional surprise, was gracious
and unaffected. Dior, who planned to retire to La Colle Noire, was so dedicated to
the house that he eventually sold the mill
at Milly to underwrite the renovations,
the cost of which, as typically happens,
exceeded expectations.
Approached through an allée of cypress
trees, the house sat on more than a hundred acres of pleasure garden and working
land, accompanied by gravelled terraces,
a private chapel, and views across the
valley. Dior installed a 150-foot reflecting
pool that ran the length of the house. For
parties, he illuminated the pool with fifty
candled hurricanes
around its perimeter.
André Svetchine,
the Nice-based
architect who had
designed Raymonde
Zehnacker’s nearby
country house,
provided Dior with
plenty of rein to play
gentleman architect. In fact, Dior
conceived much of
the house on his
own, often relying on
Svetchine and interior decorator MichelJacques Marsan
more for execution
than conception.
For construction,
as for couture, Dior
was a curator of
time-honoured
craftsmanship. He
required the use of old materials or, at
least, materials made in the old-fashioned
manner, whenever possible. Fortunately,
Svetchine proved adept at sourcing local
and antique elements that reinforced the
ambience of an old manor house. Glazed
Anduze planters flanked the door, and a
new gravel forecourt greeted arrivals.
Throughout the house, white walls, grey

panelling, and terracotta or white stone
floors, or some combination thereof,
weave simplicity and continuity into the
décor. Following the notion of a provincial manor that has evolved over the
years, formulas were relaxed, never strictly enforced. Periods, styles, colours, and
types of rugs varied; the only cardinal rule
was that the ambience remain polished
but unpretentious.
Decoration proceeded slowly, in part
determined by the renovation schedule. Because of a delay in the electrical
hookup, only two rooms were habitable
as of 1956. With such a leisurely pace,
the loose accumulation of furniture gave
the impression of having been amassed
over generations.
Except for one
chair by Séné, the
furniture was warm
and burnished but
far from museum
quality, generally
eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century
French, with the occasional Biedermeier
chair or Continental
piece for variety.
With its waxed
tiles and patinated
furniture, La Colle
Noire conveys Dior’s
response to postwar
reality. Instead of
falling back into familiar routines after
the war, the world
had rushed forward
into uncharted
territory.
Europe integrated warily, colonies sought
independence, the Soviet Union loomed as
the new world menace, and the economy
transitioned to industrial production. In
this mid-century flux, as patterns changed
and the pace picked up, Dior was a conservator of enduring custom.
A fashion genius coupled with conscientious businessman, Dior worked

From top: driveway
at La Colle Noire;
the designer in the
countryside; bedroom
detail with its vivid
‘retour d’Egypte’
wallpaper

Extracted from
Dior and His
Decorators: Victor
Grandpierre,
Georges Geffroy,
and The New Look
by Maureen Footer, published by
Vendome Press.
Available in all
good bookstores
and online.

incessantly in this new economic climate,
designing collections, developing perfume, and licensing new global products,
leaving him less time to pursue the
friendships, gardening, antiquing, music,
and quiet he craved. Others found themselves with less wherewithal, and even
less inclination, to observe the niceties of
the past.
Even Maison et Jardin, the glossy broadcaster of aspirational decoration, vaunted
a plastic tablecloth that could be cleaned
with the swipe of a dishcloth. Jewels, hats,
and gloves, those precious accoutrements
perfected by centuries of patronage, with
techniques conserved from generation
to generation, were called into question.
Emblematically, the actress Grace Kelly, a
Dior client, though engaged to a prince,
was photographed for Vogue without
adornment, just bare shoulders, blonde
hair, and American fraîcheur.
Quality, time, and heritage, those
hallmarks of Dior, were the new luxuries.
Now, interiors and clothes that were in
sync with the time were comfortable and
timeless, without gimmick or artifice.
Frivolity, Dior determined, was passé,
and as an artist, he reflected his time. His
pet model changed from the aloof Renée
to the accessible Victoire. He streamlined
his 1954 collection into the quiet H-Line.
Dior was – both as a professional couturier and as an individual – a believer in
the accomplishments of French civilization. The hand sewing, beading, embroidery, solid construction, and line of a
Dior dress were rooted in French history.
So, too, were Dior’s courtesy, table, and
interests in art, music, and antiques. La
Colle Noire, indifferent to fad, drew on
French crafts in its construction, history
in its furnishings, and tradition in its
seasonal rhythms.
While timelessness emanated from the
time-worn stone of Dior’s last house, its
modernity was in its ease, adaptability to
contemporary life, loose appropriation
of the past, and embrace of its time. Its
appeal, like that of the New Look dress,
was that it fulfilled a need for romance.

Get the look
With clever French high street and online
purchases, you can effortlessly pinch
some Dior country panache... Prices and
availability correct at time of going to press.
Doorway delight
Anduze pots
represent
the ultimate
in terracotta
elegance for
that Provençal
garden look.
Enamel flamed
model shown,
weighing 15kg
and measuring
47cm high,
costs €158
from www.truffaut.com
If walls could talk
Evoke the seasoned voyager’s
bedchamber
with a 4m long
Palazzo wallpaper panneau
by Coordonné,
evoking the
bucolic scene
at Lake Como.
Price €569 from
www.etoffe.com
Bedside manner
Dig around
brocantes or
vide-greniers or
a polished-up
bedside table
(chevet) or go
for a modern/
vintage take,
such as this
walnut ‘Berkeley’ model
with criss-cross metal legs. Price €150
from www.maisonsdumonde.com

17 The first lady, an environmentalist, going
after right kind of tree (9)

12 Walk in the Tuileries prior to entertaining
old soldiers today (9)

19 Fellow in charge is frantically busy (5)

13 Follow with result of the 100m sprint for
instance (5,5)

20 A veteran rep failing to catch first half of
film’s preview in Cannes (5-8)
22 A Pole running wild around Portugal’s
capital city (6)

16 French fox cub surprisingly reared with an
uakari at first (9)
18 Get to grips with Greek tech company (7)

23 Longs to house oddly neglected gecko with
English dogs (8)

19 What Pierre remembers of me getting
further without one (7)

25 Name a mountain with snow in France (6)

21 Queen leaves child in bath in
Versailles (4)

26 Henri’s toothpick contributing to insecure
dentures (4-4)

24 Peter strips off in summer in Nantes (3)

French-themed crossword

by John Foley
Note all answers are words or names associated with France
Across

Down

2 Edible mollusque marin céphalopode (6)

1 Area and former region comprising the
departments of Haute Vienne, Creuse and
Corrèze (8)

6 Nutritious food produced by les abeilles (4)
7 Flatfish known in English as a flounder (4)
8 Feathered vertebrate (6)
10 Famed fashion designer whose first
collection became known by the phrase
‘New Look” (4)
11 Place to keep – and forget – a prisoner (9)
13 What to shout for an encore (3)
14 Reference book such as a dictionary (5)
16 Area corresponding to cent mètres carrés (3)
20 Flying sport in which the pilot sits in a
harness suspended below a fabric wing (9)

Q: Eric Rohmer was a New Wave director. But he
was formerly the editor of which influential cinema magazine?

Skin deep
A performance artist from
Luxembourg, Deborah De
Robertis, caused outrage at
the Musée d’Orsay in 2014
when she posed naked from
the waist down in front of
which work depicting a
close-up of female model’s
genitals, believed to be
of the artist’s favourite
muses, Joanna Hiffernan.

5 Rideau souple – for lowering on sunny days,
even in winter (5)

WITH his 1917 urinal installation entitled
Fountain, Normandy-born artist Marcel
Duchamp was making an anti-art statement
in the Dadaist style. The only image in
existence of it was taken by Alfred Stieglitz,
an art promoter and photographer, who is
said to have then chucked it into a skip,
forever lost. Duchamp’s loo remains the
most iconic piece of ‘ready made’
conceptual art in history.
Q: Which French city is known as the “City of a thousand fountains”?

Claire’s Knee is a 1971 Eric Rohmer film
about the moral crisis and suppression of
temptation when a mid-thirties diplomat
develops an obsession for a young girl
whilst on holiday. As with all Rohmer films,
it serves on other levels
to touch on broader subjects and
ethical questions.

4 Capital of the Loir-et-Cher department on
the banks of the Loire (5)

23 Occupation or profession (6)

Photo: Alfred Stieglitz

1 Tibial pursuit

3 Could be smooth – as in skin (5)

17 National shortage of this dairy product
in 2017 due to a combination of factors
including poor weather (6)

22 A pile or heap of something (4)

Fun French facts

2 Nickname of pop singer Claude
François (6)

quirky
facts
wor , crosswor
languadsearch + ds,
ge teas
ers

Puzzles 19

January 2019 I French Living

Guess the region...

France has 13 regions, some recently formed by combining previous ones.
Every issue we pick a spot, all you need to do is work out which region it is in...

Clue: It’ll be all white on the night...

13 The dominant poetic metre
in French literature from the
17th Century onwards was the
“alexandrin”; each line is
composed of two hemistichs
(half-lines) divided by a caesura.
How many syllables are there in an
“alexandrin”?

15 How do you spell “diamond”
in French?
16 Which city do denim jeans
come from?
17 “Un archipel” ou “une archipel”?
18 What does “CEDEX” stand for?

Photo: CC0_ColiN00B_pixabay

14 When did the Fifth Republic start?

?

Answers

Can you attribute this quote to one of
France’s religious figures? “Un sourire
coûte moins cher que l’électricité, mais
donne autant de lumière.” (“A smile is
cheaper than electricity but provides
as much light.”)

Photo: Fotolia

?

Guess the region
Camping on the Pointe d’Ireuse, a mountain in
the Chablais Alps in the commune of Bellevaux,
Haute-Savoie. This is in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
region. In the background is Mont Blanc
(White Mountain).

8

12 Until the abolition of the death
penalty in 1981, the guillotine
was the standard method for
capital punishment. When was the
guillotine last used in France?

Photo: Christian Martelet/AuvergneRhône-Alpes Tourisme

7 Which is Paris’ second most visited
religious monument after the
Notre Dame cathedral?

11 Alsace Moselle has two more bank
holidays than other French regions;
which days do they fall on?

3 Rouen is
known as the
capital of
Normandy.
Whose heart
lies within
it’s cathedral?

Fun French facts

Use the first letters of the
answers to questions 1, 5,
8, 16, and 20, and the first
letter of the both words in
the answer to question 9
to spell out the name of a
delicate meringue based
biscuit in French.

20 Reviews
French films
A critical eye on the
latest ciné releases
An Impossible Love

French Living I January 2019
Are you the foie gras correspondent? Chris Bockman, Matador, £13.99 ISBN: 978-1788034-654
THERE are plenty of books about Britons
who have moved to France and done up a
rural property – but while this one seems
to be another one at first, it gives quite a
different take. Bockman moved to set up a
press agency in Toulouse, despite warnings
that there would not be enough to write
about. This is a memoir of a working life
through the lens of quirky or dramatic tales
that proved the naysayers wrong.
He first thought there might be more to
the area than met the eye when a visit to a
local gendarmerie showed a ‘double homi-

cide’ on a map of recent crimes (though the
duty officer ‘couldn’t remember’ if they had
caught the killer). Many jobs ended up
more ‘frivolous’, such as tracking down the
holiday home of former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten to find his dogs which had
become famous after he could not bring
them back to the UK due to quarantine.
Rugby and its links to local politics was
also a fund of stories and we learn there
is a Notre Dame de Rugby church in the
Landes which features a stained glass window of the baby Jesus holding a rugby ball.

Other topics range from the ‘risky PR
stunt’ of wine growers who dubbed their
wine vin de merde, to shadowing the pretender to the throne or going to a remote
farmhouse to interview a Briton released
from jail for murdering his wife, whom the
author photographed chopping food with a
large knife – part of a chapter where he
warns that the rural good life in isolated
areas is not always what Britons expect.
Interesting to dip into, though frequent
jumping between personal memoir and
verbatim reports from the time jars at first.

Books – The 20 minute review

We read recent releases with a link to France. To be fair, each gets 20 minutes’ reading time

Catherine Corsini; 135 mins

The latest film from director Corsini is
bigger in scope and ambition than anything she has made before and follows
three generations of a family’s story from
loved-up young mum to a grandmother.
The story is based on the 2015 novel by
Christine Angot, who also wrote Claire
Denis’ superb Let the Sunshine In, and is
often seen on TV chat shows being
something of a controversial provocatrice.
It begins in 1958, in Châteauroux, Indre
where mid-twenties typist Rachel – a
superb performance by Virginie Efira
(normally a comic performer but whose
serious acting skills get better with each
film) falls for a dashing and intellectual
young man, Philippe (Niels Schneider)
that she meets in the work canteen. She
falls pregnant and a daughter, Chantal
(Estelle Lescure), is born. However,
Philippe will not marry Rachel or allow
Chantal to take his surname, which for
the times is unsettling and bodes badly.
Over time, despite his manipulative
nature, narcissism and absence, Rachel
still holds a torch for him, while the now
teenage Chantal gets ever closer to her
father. Yet his increasingly dubious
behaviour is never far from the surface.
A word of praise for the superbly
naturalistic ageing make-up work on
both Rachel and Philippe – they look
very convincing as grandparents.

Also out: Sink or Swim

A disparate (and sometimes desperate)
gaggle of 30-50-something men make a
life change for the unexpected – by joining
a synchronised swimming team. Cue a
blend of farce and philosophy à la piscine!

Conflicts of Interest Terry
Stiastny, John Murray £8.99
ISBN: 978-1-444-79439-7
THIS novel by a
former BBC news
journalist is – at
least partly – set in
rural southern
France, where the
main character, a
has-been TV journalist has moved
after his marriage
and career ended.
His life is turned upside down by the arrival of an old friend on a cycling tour, a PR
man who moves in West­minster circles and
is on the verge of a peerage, whose seemingly perfect life seems to contrast with his.
The opening sets the scene in a sleepy village before the aging former war correspondent finds himself hiding under his
café table at the sound of guns being fired –
but it is just hunters firing into the air as
part of a traditional festival.
The descriptions of the setting in
Provence are well-observed and evocative
and French references and characters pepper the book. But it is just the start
of a story that is going to become much
more complicated and eventually drag
Lawrence back towards his old life.
At a house party Lawrence meets Martin’s
mistress, a doctor involved in a charity in
Africa, and he ends up being persuaded
to go back to the Congo, a place that holds
bad memories for him, to film for the
charity.
Ably-written, the plot twists and turns,
revealing past traumas and new ones,
themes of media and politics and the
titular ‘conflicts of interest’.

A Taste of Paris, David Downie, St. Martin’s
Press, $26.99 ISBN: 978-1-250-08293-0
FROM the opening lines it is clear we are in
the hands of someone who knows his subject
and loves it as he describes how his ‘treasure
hunt’ through Parisian gastronomy started in
the 1980s as he moved into a chambre de bonne
on the seventh floor (with no lift) near the Arc
de Triomphe and sought to understand the
city’s ‘gastronomic topography’ and how dining
there had evolved over the centuries since
Roman times. To his younger self the place
“exuded an attainable past, a flavourful, redolent history to be studied and consumed”. The
fruit of these decades is the topic of this fascinating book, written by
an American writer who has lived in the city ever since.
His enthusiasm and meaty prose make
you want to gobble up the book with its
titbits of foodie facts as it goes beneath the
surface with plenty of tales about its eateries, food shops and inhabitants’ dining
habits. You will learn how, for example,
the Romans of Paris loved foie gras from
geese fattened with figs (the word foie
came from the Latin for ‘fig’, Downie says)
or how the first French gastronomic critic,
Grimod de la Reynière, used to offer his
guests 52 courses with 15 wines, three coffees and 17 liqueurs.
Every page has surprising information, such as the fact that, according to 17th century socialite Mme de Sévigné, the royals at Versailles
were obsessed with eating peas, then a novelty. She wrote: “The impatience felt waiting to eat them, to have eaten them, and the pleasure of
eating them are the three topics on our princes’ tongues.”
This is not a conventional guide to eating out – in fact only the last
pages specifically concern the modern city, but throughout there are
references to famous institutions which still exist, or links made
between fashionable food Meccas of the past and modern ones.
However, despite fears of restaurants heating up ready-meals (he
notes that the fait maison logo is not well-policed and is best used as
an ‘icebreaker’ to discuss the cooking with the waiter or chef) he concludes that reports of the death of French cuisine have been greatly
exaggerated – you just need to know where to shop and eat, he says.

LIKE Hergé, Brel, or Poirot, Simenon was
a francophone Belgian often wrongly
assumed to have
been French.
However, his creation le commissaire
Jules Maigret, one of
the great literary
detectives, is French,
a senior officer in
Paris’s police judiciaire which investigates complex or
organised crime.
This episode, originally from 1963, is
part of a plan to produce new translations
of all 75 novels about the character.
Maigret, a bon vivant known for his
pipe smoking, is often found following
up leads in the city’s bistrots and brasseries, which is where we find him at the
start of this book.
Simenon fans love his simple language
and attention to detail and the story of
this book, which opens with an investigation into a murder, in mysterious circumstances, of a strip club owner from the
seedy Pigalle entertainment district, gets
straight to the point without literary flourishes. The anger of the title comes after a
lack of clues and progress which puts
Maigret’s reputation on the line.
Worth checking out if you enjoy well
put-together police mysteries though
the dialogue-led, plot-focused style also
means the book is not very introspective
or psychological, so you may sometimes
feel a little detached from the character.

The enduring linguistic legacy of the Gauls
Language notes

G

iven that the losers never get
to write history, it is hardly
surprising that there are so few
words still used in the French
language with origins dating
back to the vanquished Gauls.
Add to this the fact that the Druids of the
time preferred the spoken to written word,
and the clutch of 150 or so words in use is
small, if perfectly formed. Within 400 years
the language was largely redundant.
But to which commonly used words do
we owe the Gauls a tip of the hat? Naturebased words have stood the test of time...
The oak tree and its evergreen lodger
mistletoe were sacred to the Druids, and
the word chêne is derived from casnus then
cassanos, which means twisted or gnarled.
(The word Druid itself has origins in the
Greek word for oak – dru.)

“

Naturebased
words have
stood the
test of time

The French word for little stones or
pebbles (as used to describe beaches, for
instance) is cailloux, which stems from
the Gaulois word caljo meaning stone.
As do galets (also pebbles) from the
Gaulois gallos.
The French word for sheep – mouton –
resisted the Roman incarnation of the
species ovis to survive until today. It
comes from the Gaulois word multo.
A very pretty sounding Gaulois remnant, so memorably heard in song, is
alouette (lark) from alauda. Caesar is said
to have recruited some Alpine Gaulois
soldiers in 50BC and gave their legion
the name ‘Alauda’, which prolonged the
word’s resistance to any Latin successor.
Finally, a few dirty words – literally. La
boue in French means mud, and it can
be traced to the Gaulois bawa, which
itself stemmed from baw, meaning dirt.
Glaise, meaning clay, comes from the
Celtic gliso, while suie (soot) has its
origins in the Gallo-Roman word suda.

Shopping/Did you know? 21

January 2019 I French Living

Photo: Musée des arts et métiers-Cnam_Michèle Favareille

QUOI DE NEUF?

New products, designs and ideas from around France

Point your Pixter

From holiday selfies to foodie shots and architectural compositions of our favourite French
scenes, we all love taking photos on
our smartphones. But to give an extra
creative edge and a new dimension in
the mobile photography experience,
French company Pixter has developed
a range of premium add-on lenses.
The company was founded in 2015 by
Tristan Monod, Clément Chahmana and
Alexis Pasquesoone, three passionate photographers and technology enthusiasts,
who wanted to create simple to use and
easy to transport photo lenses to boost
creative photography.
There is a lens to suit every budget and level
of photography expertise – with prices ranging
from €29.90 for a starter lens (macro, fisheye
and wide angle) to €159.90 for the Pro Pack for
more experienced users (lenses include telephoto, polariser and super fisheye and macro pro).
Pixter lenses adapt to every smartphone model
thanks to the universal mounting system and the
company, which has had the ‘Made in Tech France’
label since 2015, also offers accessories such as
tripods and Bluetooth remote control.
www.pixter.co/en

Biological path to beauty

Socking it to them
AS SOCK production goes, the detailed,
hands-on human endeavour that goes into
making ‘Made in France’ Archiduchesse
chaussettes (see the video on their website) is
something to behold. Especially considering
the reasonable price of around €7 per pair.
Avoid lost-sock trauma with the SaintEtienne firm’s fresh and fun ‘Semainiers’
Happy Colours packs – €45 for seven pairs.
www.archiduchesse.com

DEFYING the ageing process – at least when it comes to skincare
– is not an entirely lost cause thanks to French companies such as
Phyt’s, an independent business based near Cahors, Lot.
The firm has been researching and developing natural, biological cosmetics – without gelling agents and stabilisers – since 1972,
and takes careful measures to minimise the impact that its ‘chemistry’ has on the environment. Panacée, one of its latest premium
products, is an anti-ageing cream for mature skin types that
‘reduces wrinkles significantly’. RRP €90, see website for outlets.
en.phyts.com

Bringing art
to life at home
We all have a favourite work of art.
But what if you could have a painting transposed onto a cushion, headboard, lampshade or even curtains?
French company Muséo, founded
in Paris twelve years ago, has a
three-step approach to creating
tailored artwork to adorn your
home. First, their rights and design
department searches for the work in
their imagebank and prepares the
item; next, the workshop looks after
the printing process; and finally the
finishing touches are made by its
team of skilled craftsmen.
The company works with major
hotels in France to craft in situ artworks and has also collaborated with
Philippe Starck. Artwork shown
Jeune Fille by Jean-Hippolyte
Flandrin: lampshade from €180.
en.muzeo.com

Replicas of the 1799
metre (in original case)
and kilogram measures

A weighty issue: France
invented metric system
Did you know?

T

he metric system, which is
used the world over, apart
from the USA, Burma and
Liberia, was invented in
France and was a direct
result of the Revolution. France
remains the world centre for deciding
just how we work out how long and
how heavy everything is, as the
International Bureau for Weights
and Measurements is in Paris.
Before the Revolution, weights and
measures varied not only between
countries but within nations, and
could be different from one town to
another. The new leaders in France
wanted to unify the country and one
way was to introduce a national measurement system.
They opted for a decimal system
which would be interrelated and it is
no accident that a litre of pure water
weighs a kilogram. However, the basis
of the system, which was to be the
metre, had yet to be invented. The scientific greats of the time decided to
use a natural phenomenon and so the
metre was to be equal to one ten millionth of the distance from the North
Pole to the equator. But first this had
to be measured.
In 1791, two astronomers, Joseph
Delambre and Pierre Méchain, set out
to do this by accurately measuring a
quarter of the meridian from Dunkirk

to Barcelona. Delambre went north
and Méchain went south and they
were to meet in the middle.
They thought it might take them
two years, using a triangulation system and the latest in equipment, the
Borda repeating circle. However, the
unrest following the revolution and
war between France and Spain hampered their progress and they had
many adventures on the way.
They were often mistaken for
royalist supporters with their strange
instruments and had to avoid arrest
and decapitation. Eventually in 1799,
their thousands of calculations resulted in the metre, which was gradually
used by countries all over the world.
Up until May 2019, the Musée des
Arts et Métiers in Paris is holding an
exhibition dedicated to the seven
international units of measurement
and the way we use them every day.
Laurent Vavasseur is the science curator for the museum: “Measurement is
all around us but we tend to take it for
granted. The different units are constantly evolving to become more and
more precise.
“The metre is now defined in reference to the speed of light and at the
last conference of the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures in
November 2018, four of the seven
base units were redefined, including
the kilogram, which was the last unit
to be dematerialised. Work to produce
an accurate universal measurement
system continues and this concept
was created in France.”
www.arts-et-metiers.net

22 History

French Living I January 2019

France’s first media scientist,
who fought disease – and won

L

ouis Pasteur (1822-1895)
remains one of France’s most
famous scientists. Among his
numerous achievements, he
created the first vaccines for
anthrax and rabies, invented a way of
killing bacteria in milk and wine
(pasteurisation), reduced deaths from
puerperal fever, and was instrumental in
establishing the germ theory of disease.
He was also an early “media giant”,
promoting himself and popularising
science. His Pasteur Institute remains a
pioneering hub of scientific research.
Pasteur was born in Dole, Jura, into a
poor family. His father was a tanner and
he did not start school until 1831 when
he was almost nine years old. Initially, he
was not an outstanding pupil, preferring
to spend his time fishing, and sketching
portraits of his family and friends. He
finally passed his Bac S (baccalauréat
scientifique) in 1842 and went to the Ecole
Normale Supérieure where he got a
degree in science (1845) and then worked
as a lab assistant while researching theses
in chemistry and physics.
In 1848, he got a job teaching chemistry
at the University of Strasbourg, where he
met and married Marie Laurent in 1849.
They had five children together, three of
whom died of typhoid in infancy.
In 1854, he became dean of the science
faculty at Lille University, where he began
studying the process of fermentation. It
was not newly discovered; everyone knew
how to use it to make beer, wine and
bread. But at that time no one had a
scientific explanation for how fermentation worked, what mechanism caused it.
(The answer is yeast, by the way.)
Pasteur was by then a long way from
the boy who had enjoyed sketching and
fishing. He had developed into a workaholic who kept punishing
hours (getting up at 5am
and going to bed at
9.30pm), and whose
research and studies
were rigorously
disciplined. When
he got a promotion, becoming
director of scientific studies back
at his alma mater
in Paris, he introduced a whole series
of strict reforms in an
attempt to raise academic
standards. Exams were tougher, students were threatened with expulsion for smoking and were required to
eat a universally disliked mutton stew
once a week.
In 1887, he established the Pasteur
Institute in Paris, and became its director
until his death in 1895. One of Pasteur’s
greatest strengths was his interest in
proving or disproving other scientists’
theories. He showed, for example, that
germs could not spontaneously develop
in sterile liquids. They would only grow
in contaminated liquids. The logical con-

clusion, using pasteurisation – ie. heating
beer, wine and milk to between 60 and
100 degrees centigrade to kill most germs
and keep those drinks fresh for longer –
is still used today. As is the practice of
storing heat-treated, uncontaminated
food in sealed, sterile containers.
Having established that decomposition
of foodstuffs was due to external
micro-organisms which could be killed
by heat, rather than to spontaneous
organisms integral to food, he turned his
attention to the human body and showed
that many diseases were also caused by
micro-organisms entering the body and
causing infections.
As part of his investigations into chicken cholera, he isolated the bacteria which
caused the disease and discovered how to
deliberately infect chickens with it. One
dose, however, turned out not to work.
Although the chickens became slightly ill,
they recovered. On investigation, the
dose was discovered to be weaker than
normal. Deeming the experiment a failure, he re-infected the same chickens, but
none became ill and he realised that they
were immune to the bacteria. Giving
them a very weak dose of it had effectively vaccinated them against the disease.
This type of vaccine is called “live” as it
contains live bacteria. Later on, scientists
realised that it was not always necessary
to use whole, live bacteria in vaccines
and that the same results could be
obtained using just the dead, outside part
of the cells. These are called “dead” or
inactivated vaccines.
This research has saved countless lives,
and led to the global eradication of smallpox in 1977, which Unicef estimates has
saved around five million lives every year.
Other diseases, such as polio, are almost
eradicated because 80% of the world’s
children have been immunised
against it. This percentage is
sufficient to stop the disease spreading. Vaccines
have brought many
other previously
life-threatening diseases under control,
including diphtheria,
tetanus, yellow fever,
whooping cough,
measles, mumps
and rubella.
Louis Pasteur also did
a vast amount of work on
developing a vaccine to
immunise humans against rabies.
He did not invent vaccinations, but built
on the work of previous researchers and
doctors, including Edward Jenner, who
discovered (around 1798) how to use
cowpox bacteria to inoculate people
against smallpox. But that was part of his
genius, according to Sylvie Morel, director of the museum in Dole, established in
the house where Pasteur was born. “He
was a very black and white character,
very self-disciplined, implacable towards
his enemies, ultra-loyal with friends and
family. His detractors say he borrowed

Photo: La Maison de Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur worked hard to secure his legacy,
while saving millions, writes Samantha David

Louis Pasteur,
pictured with his
family and wife (top
and inset). Bottom:
some of the tools of
his scientific trade on
display at the Maison
de Louis Pasteur

“

Pasteur was an
excellent researcher.
He didn’t pull genies
out of the hat, he
worked on other
people’s research
to advance their
discoveries
Sylvie Morel, director of
Maison de Louis Pasteur

other people’s discoveries and even his
discovery of pasteurisation wasn’t entirely
his own. Other people had already discovered that you could preserve garden
peas by keeping them in heat-treated jars,
for example. But he found out why.
“His contribution was explaining the
scientific mechanisms behind processes,
including vaccination, pasteurisation,
sterilisation, and decomposition. Jenner
knew that his vaccinations against smallpox worked, but throughout his life was
ridiculed by doubters because he couldn’t
scientifically prove how and why.”
She says that he was also one of the first
scientists to understand that research
could only progress as a team effort. For
example, his colleague Pierre Roux, who
was a co-founder of the Pasteur Institute,
developed a cure for diphtheria and discovered that dead vaccines could work.
“Pasteur was an excellent researcher.
He didn’t pull genies out of the hat,
he worked on other people’s research to
advance their discoveries. He also understood that to carry out scientific research
you need money. But, of course, money
for medical research has always been
lacking, so he realised that he would have
to sell himself, sell the work, and popularise science. He was probably the first

Local history 23

January 2019 I French Living
Photo: Wikipedia/Paul Nadar

Unique homes in an Alpine
village 2km above sea level
Europe’s highest village, in the southern Alps, has an architecture
all its own. Jane Hanks finds out why from one of its residents
Secret history of buildings

scientist to realise that he needed to
increase his stature, his media profile and
his visibility in order to get funding and
facilities. He was a media giant, and
relentlessly corrected press articles, and
explained himself and the science he did.
He vaccinated animals in public to raise
his profile, and entered for prizes and
awards in order to continue his work.”
Pasteur was awarded medals, titles,
grants and honours from countries
around the globe. In France, among other
honours, he was made a chevalier of the
Legion of Honour in 1853 and promoted
to officer, commander, grand officer and
finally given the Grand Cross of the
Legion of Honour in 1881.
During Pasteur’s lifetime there were
sections of the public who did not
understand the theory of bacteria
causing infections, and could not
understand the workings of the human
immune system, so they doubted the
effectiveness of vaccinations.
In the 21st century it might seem
odd that there are still some people
who doubt that vaccines work (see our
Back Page), but Ms Morel puts it down to
their success. “Due to immunisation programmes, today in Western Europe no
one sees people dying of diseases like TB,

diphtheria or smallpox so there is a tendency to believe that being in good health
is the natural state of things. But in fact
that’s not the case. We are healthier and
live longer than at any time in history
because we eat uncontaminated food,
drink clean water, live in clean houses and
in towns with efficient sewerage systems.
“Public health depends on a majority of
people being vaccinated in order to protect the few who are not. But today we
live in a culture of increasing individualism, where there is less concern for group
welfare than for individual choice. But if
you go to developing countries, in Africa
for example, you quickly see that public
health without vaccinations, clean water
etc is not at the same level.”
She is proud of the museum’s interactive
displays, allowing children as well as
adults to re-enact some of Pasteur’s
experiments, as well as exploring the
effect that vaccination has on public
health: “The display shows visitors the
mathematical calculations. How many
people will die of a given disease if you
vaccinate 50% of a population (it’s quite a
lot) or 70% or 90%?
“We hope it helps people understand
Pasteur’s work - and especially the
importance of vaccination.”

Pasteur realised he
needed to raise his
media profile in
order to secure
additional funding
and facilities for
his research

Saint Véran is the highest village in
Europe at 2,042 metres above sea level
and is one of the Most Beautiful Villages
in France. It is in the Southern Alps, in
the Parc Naturel Régional du Queyras,
not far from Briançon, the highest town
in France at 1,326 metres.
Legend has it that the village was
formed when a sixth-century bishop
freed the lowlands from a dragon,
which rose into the air and died in the
mountains.
Local people marked this miracle by
building a settlement where the dragon
landed and named it after the bishop,
Saint Véran.
Jacqueline Turina, who has lived in the
village all her life and who gives guided
tours to visitors, thinks the real story is
rather more prosaic: that the bishop discovered the place on
his travels to Rome and
recognised the richness
of the pastureland in
the area.
Though high in
the mountains, and
covered in snow
for seven months
of the year, Mrs
Turina says Saint
Véran is a wonderful
place to live:
“We face south with
marvellous views and
plenty of sunshine and the rich
grass grows for a far longer period
than further south.
“Transhumance has meant that sheep
and cows have been brought up here
from Provence for centuries, and this
continues today.
“At first people only lived here in summer, but perhaps, one winter, the snow
came earlier than expected and so people
had to stay, and having done so once continued to do so.”
Another attraction to settlers were the
copper mines which are even higher up

and were mined as long ago as 2,000BC,
right up until 1956. Historians believe
the metal was originally mined by some
Italian settlers.
To survive the long winters, the inhabitants built houses which are unique to the
village, as their first floor, called a fuste
and built of wood, is far bigger than in
other areas because they had to store
food and fodder there to last the long
winter.
The ground floor has thick stone walls
and families lived with no other heating
than from the animals who lived in the
same space.
Wood was precious and was kept for
cooking and for building.
Next to the house was a small stone
building called a caset. “This was built to
shelter the family during one of the very
frequent fires,” explained Mrs Turina.
“There was so much wood that a cooking fire could easily get out of hand.
“In the 16th century, the whole
village was burnt down, and
when it was rebuilt it was
separated into five sections, each separated
by a no-build zone
which acted as a fire
break.
“Each quartier was
like its own small
village, with a communal bread oven
and a water fountain,
also built in wood,
with a lavoir attached.
“Wood is everywhere in
our village.”
Two traditional houses can be visited
in the village.
The oldest dates from 1641 and is run
as a museum by the Parc Naturel
Régional du Queyras.
In the second, visitors are greeted by
the nephew of owners who lived there in
the traditional way with animals to keep
them warm in the winter until 1976.
For details of guided tours of
Saint-Véran, contact Queyras
tourist office: queyras-montagne.com

24 The big picture

French Living I January 2019

Heritage headquarters is 60 years old
Photos: Unesco

Samantha David
marks the 60th
anniversary of Unesco’s
distinctive Paris HQ by
exploring the cultural
organisation’s work

T

he distinctive Unesco
headquarters at 7 place de
Fontenoy in Paris was 60
years old last November. It
was commissioned by Unesco
(United Nations Educational Scientific
and Cultural Organisation) as a symbol of
the organisation as well as a home.
The three architects, Bernard Zehrfuss,
Marcel Breuer and Pier Luigi Nervi came
up with a seven-story building in a threearmed star shape along with a building
commonly called the ‘accordion’ and a
third building in the shape of a cube.
The three pointed star is the most iconic.
The land it is built on still belongs to the
French state, which has given Unesco a
renewable 99-year lease costing a nominal
1,000 French francs (€152) per year.
The official, laudable, purpose of Unesco
(created in 1945) is to “contribute to
the building of peace, the eradication of
poverty, sustainable development and
intercultural dialogue through education,
the sciences, culture, communication and
information.”
The Paris headquarters is surrounded by
beautiful gardens, contains a large international art collection, and hosts free cultural events which are open to the public,
although the building is currently
closed to sightseeing visits due
to security concerns.
One of the best ways to
visit the building and see
the art collection has
been during the Nuit
européenne des Musées
which will be on May
18 this year, although at
the time of going to print
Unesco’s participation in 2019
had not been confirmed. It is also
possible to visit as a group, if you make
the request at least 10 weeks in advance.
There are 44 Unesco heritage sites in
France, most of them cultural, but four

are natural: the Gulf of Porto off the coast
of Corsica; the Lagoons of New Caledonia
(in the Pacific Ocean); and the ‘Pitons,
Cirques and Remparts of Réunion island’
(in the Caribbean); and the Chaîne des
Puys-Limagne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
One site is both natural and cultural: the
Pyrénées-Mont Perdu.
The cultural sites include specific buildings like the cathedrals in Amiens,
Bourges, Chartres and Reims,
but others cover entire areas
within cities, like the Roman
monuments and buildings
in Arles, the Port of the
Moon in Bordeaux, the
historical centre of
Avignon, the Santiago
de Compostela walking
routes in France, the Episcopal City of Albi, Mont-StMichel and the bay, and the
palace and gardens of Versailles.
Getting Unesco heritage status is
obviously important. It protects sites for
future generations, but also opens the

The Unesco building,
alongside the cube
and the so-called
‘accordeon’ in Paris;
European Museum
Night is currently
the only chance
to explore inside

doors to funding, and can increase visitor
numbers and therefore revenue generated
directly and indirectly. So it is no surprise
to discover that there is a long list of sites
in France currently up for consideration.
Some, like the centre of Rouen, the Camargue, and Mont Blanc, are to be expected.
Others like the Brittany village of Carnac
(home to more than 10,000 Neolithic
standing stones) are less well-known.
Jean-Baptiste Goulard is directing
efforts to have Carnac’s menhirs and dolmens heritage listed by Unesco. “It’s a long
process because this is France,” he says.
“First you have to compile a far-ranging
dossier and submit it to the French Ministry of Culture and then another committee decides which dossier to put forward
to Unesco each year. Member States can
only put one project forward each year,
but it’s not a foregone conclusion that
Unesco will accept it. The city of Nîmes
had their dossier rejected.”
The process can take decades but it is
worth it because it literally puts a site on
the global tourist map. Brittany is already

a tourist destination but currently has no
Unesco listed sites. Getting Carnac listed
would increase visits from American,
Chinese and Japanese visitors because
tour operators design trips around Unesco heritage sites. “Visits to the site aren’t
profitable economically, but the economic
advantage to the area is considerable in
terms of visitors also paying for accommodation, entertainment, transport,
shopping, and visits to other attractions.”
It is not only about money, however.
“Being Unesco listed means there is more
money available for maintaining and protecting sites and ensuring people respect
them. Unesco status isn’t guaranteed for
life, it can be taken away if the site no
longer conforms to their requirements of
a World Heritage Site.
“In order to ensure the site is correctly
maintained, having Unesco status means
being inspected annually, and having a
formal administrative structure put in
place to oversee management, all of which
helps ensure that the standing stones will
be there for future generations.”

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The inside story of readers who
have had operations in France
– and how they found the
health service, by Gillian Harvey

EVERYONE living in France
has had the right since last
summer to make a mistake –
once – in their dealings with
authorities and bureaucracy.
Known as the “droit à
l’erreur”, it is the equivalent of a
one-time-only “get out of jail
free” card but only if the error
was made in good faith.
Repeated errors of the same
kind are considered to be
deliberate and therefore do not
qualify.
The law was a campaign
promise of President
Emmanuel Macron.
It means that anyone who has
breached a rule for the first
time, or “made a material
error”, cannot be punished if
they have corrected the situation on their own initiative or

Hernia meant that singing
left me in excruciating pain
Musician and singing teacher Peter
Evans, 58, moved to France in 2013 with
wife Ema. The pair run meditation and
singing retreats near Lac de Vassivière.
Initial symptoms
In April 2018, I noticed a swelling on the
left side of my groin. I recognised it
instantly, as I’d had two hernias in the past
– the first aged 18, and the second when I
was 38. If I lay on my back, it was possible
to push the swelling back in, but when I
coughed it would pop straight out again. It
was a little tender but not painful. I might
have over-exerted myself when digging up
a rose bush in the garden the day before.
I went to see my local GP, who confirmed the diagnosis. He asked whether I
wanted to have the hernia operated on. As
they don’t heal themselves and are likely to
get worse if left untreated, I said that I did,
but wanted to wait until autumn as
summer can be busy as I run singing
groups and am also a keen cyclist.
However, the next month, whilst running
singing classes, which can put strain on the
abdominal muscles, I got the first of three
episodes of excruciating pain.
A hernia is caused by part of the intestines poking out through a weak section of
the abdominal wall; if it gets trapped, it
can cause agonising pain and unless you
can get it to go back in, it can become
“strangulated” and you need emergency
surgery.
Luckily, I managed to get it to pop back
in by lying down and massaging the area,
so hospital was not needed.
However, I made an urgent appointment
with my GP, who referred me to the
Clinique François Chénieux in Limoges
for the following week. Amazingly, I still
managed to complete the rest of the singing workshop and also take part in a fourand-a-half-hour cycling event in the
intervening week.
At the hospital
The check-up at the hospital was just to
confirm the diagnosis and to arrange a
date for surgery, which was set for
September. I could have had an earlier

How is an inguinal hernia diagnosed?
An inguinal (groin) hernia appears as a
swelling in the groin, which corresponds with the passage of the intestines through the inguinal canal. It is
usually painless and often disappears
when the patient stretches, or presses
on the swelling.
A inguinal hernia may remain asymptomatic for years but it will only grow
and cannot heal spontaneously. The
most serious complication is strangulation: the intestines stuck in the hernia
can lose blood supply (necrosis); in this
case, emergency surgery is required.
How long does the operation take?
Two types of surgery are possible: by
an incision of the groin (which can be
done under local anaesthesia) or by

laparoscopy (under general anaesthesia). The laparoscopy is minimally invasive and is less painful for the patient.
Could you briefly describe what
is done to rectify the hernia?
In almost all cases, a parietal reinforcement (mesh) is put in place to prevent
recurrence. Surgery usually lasts about
30 minutes and is carried out on a
day-patient basis.
What is the prognosis for
patients after the operation?
The risk of complications after surgery
are very low (haematomas, after-pain
and, in exceptional cases, infection
may occur). The use of prosthetics
means that the chance of recurrence is
less than 2%.

NEXT MONTH: Cataracts

Peter Evans was in hospital for less
than 12 hours to have hernia repaired
appointment, but wanted to wait until after
the summer. Two weeks prior to the operation, I had an appointment with the
anaesthetist to talk about my medication
and check my blood pressure.
I was offered the choice between a spinal
anaesthesia and general. I opted for the
general because I’d never had any problem
with them in the past, and didn’t like the
idea of being temporarily paralysed.
The operation
I checked in for the operation on the day

itself at 7.30am. As I was first on the list
for theatre, I was taken to surgery at
around 9am. The procedure takes around
45 minutes, and I was fully awake in my
room by around lunchtime.
After a few checks by nurses and the
surgeon, a sandwich and a couple of cups
of coffee, my head had cleared sufficiently
for me to head home in the ambulance taxi
by 7pm. You are allowed to go home the
same day if you have a responsible adult
waiting for you.
The staff at the hospital were great and
spoke “lentement, clairement et simplement” for me, and both the ambulance taxi
drivers were lovely as well – though I did
have to ask the guy on the way home to
take it a bit easier around the corners of
the Lac-side roads!
Aftercare
Once I was home, the local nurses came
daily to check the wound and change the
dressings for the first week.
After seven days, with the incision
sufficiently healed, they removed the outer
stitches (there were two more layers of
self-dissolving sutures under the skin).
Around a month after the procedure, I
had another appointment with the surgeon
so that I could be given the all-clear to
gradually resume my usual activities.

MYTHBUSTER

High-altitude French ski resorts are eyesores
This is partly false
When it comes to high-altitude French ski resorts, the
aesthetic is often not pretty.
Concrete tower blocks from
the 60s and 70s jostle with
purpose-built squares to supply
huge demand in Tignes
(2,100m), Avoriaz (1,800m)
and Les Arcs (2,100m). The
appeal of these Brit-crowded
resorts can quickly wear thin...
at which point it is time to
move towards prettier Alpine

In this column we look at
claims often made about
France and whether they
are actually true
pastures. The picturesque
Savoyard village of Samoëns,
perched at 1,600m, is attached
to 265km of pistes belonging to
the Grand Massif ski area.
The ancient village is classed
as a monument historique and
in the quaint mountain
eateries you will find that the
majority of the customers are

French. The old cheesemaking
village of St Martin-deBelleville is lower than the
neighbouring Trois Vallées
resorts of Méribel and Val
Thorens but speedy lifts get
you up the mountain in a flash.
Take the lift over Col de
Rosael from Val Thorens to get
to Orelle, a cluster of 10 hamlets in the Maurienne valley.
You have the best of both
worlds here: access to the Trois
Vallées slopes but far enough
away for some peace and quiet.
Traditional architecture

abounds at Les Saisies. Nestled
in the Beaufortain valley, the
village boasts stunning views of
Mont Blanc. Known as a
cross-country resort, its gentle
inclines are ideal for families
and beginners.
If you enjoy a hearty meal
after a day on the slopes, try
Serre Chevalier in the Ecrins
national park.
With 250km of ski slopes and
a dozen idyllic villages, this is
where to find roaring log fires
and a typically cosy mountain
atmosphere.

after being invited to do so by
the administration.
During his campaign,
President Macron gave two
examples to illustrate how
this works.
“Today, an employer who forgets to declare to URSSAF the
Christmas bonus he paid to his
employees is fined. He will be
able to assert his right to make
a mistake tomorrow,” he said.
“Today, grandparents who are
giving accommodation to their
granddaughter because she has
just found a job near them
must report this to CAF or risk
losing part of their housing
benefits and paying penalties.
“Tomorrow, they will be able
to exercise their right to make
mistakes and will not have to
pay the penalty.”

MONEY-SAVER

Cashback sites on the rise
Cashback websites which
give you money when you
make a purchase from a
partner internet site are on
the rise in France.
Shoppers who buy an item
on a partner site receive a
percentage of the money they
spend back from the site.
Christian Goaziou, founder
of the largest such site in
France iGraal, said it works
because it is based on a classic
economic model: “All retail
companies, large or small, are
always on the lookout for two
things: one, to increase their
sales, and two, to attract more
customers.
“For that they will spend a
fortune on advertising.
“With us they get cheap publicity as people are encouraged
to buy as they get money back.
“We negotiate a deal with the
seller. They might give us 10%
of the purchase price of any
sale through our site and we
will pass on a percentage of
that to the customer.”
More than four million

people are signed up to iGraal.
When a customer wants to
buy a lawn mower, for
example, they go on the site,
look up the partner sites selling them, and buy.
A percentage of what they
pay then comes back to them
via their iGraal account.
Customers can “earn” €100
to €150 a year.
There are more than 50
similar sites in France,
including eBuyClub, with
2.5million members.
Cashback in France is not as
developed as in the US or the
UK, but a survey in 2016
showed a 20% increase every
year since 2012.
As always, you must look at
the small print to know what
you are signing up for. There
are often bigger cashbacks for
a first purchase, for example.
Consumer websites give one
warning; sign up with free
cashback sites, as pay-to-join
sites have attracted complaints
and sites should make their
money from retailers.

GPS turns off police checks
MOTORISTS who use Waze or Coyote GPS applications may
soon lose advance warning of certain police checks.
A bill that would force the apps to conceal specific types of
police presence has the support of the companies behind the apps,
as well as motoring and road safety groups.
Speed camera operations would not be affected by the draft law
but alcohol stops would be removed, as would police checks in
case of terrorist or criminal activity.
Road safety minister Emmanuel Barbe said: “The principle [of
this bill] is that a criminal who has kidnapped someone,
perpetrated a terrorist act or who is drunk while driving cannot
avoid a police check just because another driver has reported it via
an application”. The bill will be presented for vote early this year.

Gluten-free sweet deliveries
SWEET news for anyone who
is gluten-intolerant: a pâtisserie
in Lyon that sells only
gluten-free products now
delivers its gateaux nationwide.
Les Gasteliers’ pastries can be
ordered online (lesgasteliers.fr),
and will arrive on your doorstep within 48 hours. The

pâtisserie opened in 2017 with
a mission to create original
recipes that are 100%
gluten-free and made using
ingredients from organic or
sustainable sources, supplied
directly by producers. They
also have a lactose-free range
for dairy-intolerant customers.

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The language is a castle for exploring, not for attacking !!
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Box clever and even arrange for UK purchases to be delivered to you
Watson European are
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Andrea Watson, the proprietor of
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regular customers in France when they
wish to make purchases in the UK. Where

our customers order online from different
suppliers in the UK we take delivery of the
items and can store them for up to 60 days
without charge. Once all the different orders
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the customer’s door in France.”
With Watson European, you can rest
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UK Chartered Psychologist

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The Connexion January 2019

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Taking the paperwork and pain out of a left-hand drive vehicle purchase
At Gary Automobiles near
Lyon, convenience and quality
are assured for customers
buying a left-hand drive car
ARE YOU looking to buy a left-hand drive
vehicle for your new life in France?
Gary Automobiles is an English-owned
motor dealer based just outside of Lyon in
the Rhône-Alpes, specialising in the supply
of quality new and pre-owned, left-hand
drive, French registered vehicles to expats
moving to France.
The company has been operating in
France since July 1 2003 and customers
only ever deal with Gary personally.
Convenience for the customer is a key
element in the company’s ethos, which is
why Gary Automobiles now has the facility
to register your vehicle in your name at

AXA

their premises – meaning there is no need
to worry about translation and paperwork
issues. Gary will issue your new carte
grise directly from his
office and can even
arrange your French
motor insurance and
transfer your no
claims bonus.
“I remember how hard
it was to understand the
French paperwork and
red tape when I made the
move over to France in
2001. I am happy to assist
fellow expats and take
that burden away,” says Gary.
Reassuringly, they are fully French
registered company with Siret / Siren / and
TVA numbers and only supply vehicles with
European specifications.
For customers wishing to stay over and

For information and quotes
in English contact Penny
at G.S.A.R. 05 53 40 15 71
pennym.gsar@wanadoo.fr

AXA
INSURANCE

Jean-Marie LECOMTE
ST HILAIRE DU HARCOUET - 50600

HOME - CAR - HEALTH
We insure UK registered cars for up to 12 months

ENGLISH SPOKEN

(call Angeline) - 02 33 49 12 34
agence.lecomte@axa.fr

Test your knowledge
of all things French
with our
puzzle books
Order at

connexionfrance.com

GARY AUTOMOBILES

Specialists in supplying quality
New and Pre-owned
French registered vehicles
We buy LHD/RHD vehicles
Part-exchanges welcome
Unlike UK LHD specialists we
handle all the paperwork and
re-register the vehicle in your
name at our premises!
French registered, English owned company

Working with selected
insurers to find the best
policy for your needs
at competitive rates

covered for damage or theft
at home or elsewhere

also provides a car sourcing service –
meaning if they do not have the vehicle
you want in stock, they will find it for you.
For further recommendation, here are
some previous customer comments:
“Gary Automobiles made the whole
process as painless as possible.”
Colin Edwards
“I have used Gary Automobiles to source
and deliver a new car in France. Since I
don’t speak French it was a delight to deal
with Gary himself.” Tom Wall
“Gary’s personal and English-speaking
service has been really helpful and taken
the hassle out of buying and keeping a car
in France.” James Greig

Heslop & Platt

Agence International
•
•
•
•
•
•

visit the area (easyJet and Ryanair fly into
nearby airports), Gary can come to collect
you from the airport or train station, as
well as arrange
reservations or
advise on local
Lyonnais hotels.
Another part
of the service
offered by Gary
Automobiles is
that they do not
put people under
pressure to make
a purchase. They
understand the
logistics of moving abroad, so if they have
a suitable vehicle in stock they we will keep
it until you are ready to collect – with no
time limitations.
Part exchange with your right hand drive
vehicle is also available, while the company

Suppliers of German
kitchens by Häcker
And English Kitchens and
furniture by Neptune
Plus a range of work surfaces
and appliances
Visit our website:
www.justkitchens.fr
Or call for a chat:
05.62.58.03.64
All of France with showrooms in the South West

FOSSE SEPTIQUE
TREATMENT
An ecological alternative
to a pump out
www.eco-tabs.biz

Five Day Mindful Meditation and Yoga Retreat in Normandy
In an increasingly frantic
world it is essential to have
compassion for ourselves
and to invest in our inner
peace. Theresa and Simon
Powell run Riboudin Retreats
which offers residential
retreats to help you renew,
rebalance and reconnect with
what really matters in life and
specialises in mindfulnessbased meditation and yoga to
help address the causes of
stress.
“Our Norman long house is a 10 acre
pocket of calm, just 3km from the famous

cliffs of Étretat, an area that has provided
inspiration and sanctuary for many famous
artists over the years. With a bluebell forest
and extensive garden, we are immersed in
nature.” says Theresa.
“Each retreat day features guided
meditations, morning and evening yoga,
rural or coastal walks. There is also the
opportunity to have a massage or reiki
session to promote stress reduction.”
Theresa is a qualified Meditation teacher,
having studied extensively in France and the
UK. Riboudin Retreats offers Meditation
of Breath, Meditation of Loving Kindness,
Gratitude Meditations and Visualization
Meditations with Rose Quartz; you will
also be guided and experience deep levels
of relaxation with your meditations. If
the weather is co-operating, the yoga and
meditation classes are held in the open air,
including on the amazing cliffs of Étretat.
Simon continues, “Our experienced yoga

REMOVALS - STORAGE GENERAL TRANSPORT EXPRESS SERVICE

teacher predominately teaches Vinyasa
Yoga, with relaxing Savasana, but enjoys
teaching Power Yoga for strength and
welcomes participants of all levels. Whether
you are new to yoga and meditation or wish
to deepen your practice, we welcome you.
“Each day includes time for everyone to
pursue their own activities, Wednesday
mornings we take a visit to the local market
to buy fresh provisions, including some
delicious French cheeses. Evenings can be
enjoyed sitting by the fire pit.”
Theresa concludes, “Riboudin is the
French name for the tiny Winter Wren
Troglodytes Troglodytes which symbolise
resilience and a renewal of energy. Our
retreats are designed to nourish you from
the inside out, and guests enjoy homemade, nutritious vegetarian meals and
desserts featuring local produce including
honey, eggs and vegetables from our garden,
when they are available.”

A wide range of quality
indoor furniture and sofas
supplied and delivered direct to
your French property saving you
time and money.
Full installation of all furniture
Delivery from just £99
Tel 06 46 49 73 45
info@furnitureforfrance.co.uk
www.furnitureforfrance.co.uk

Visit www.riboudin.com to book for a 2019 retreat or email retreats@riboudin.com

Hundreds of practical questions are
answered in Connexion helpguides

doverinfo@aandsselfstorage.co.uk

TO FRANCE

Guests normally arrive Monday morning and depart Friday afternoon, bed & breakfast
extensions are available. Visitor comments include, ‘We were lucky to fall into a piece of
heaven’ and ‘I will treasure the kindness and compassion of the teachers’.

English TV in your
French Home
Professional installations in
Brittany & Normandy
Mail-order throughout France
Free, friendly, helpful advice

TVBrittany

02 97 27 58 50
www.tvbrittany.com

Covering the Gard

All types of roofs renewed / repaired
Velux roof windows - Guttering

04 66 72 75 84

peter.w.bober@gmail.com
Siret No: 50066265500017

Multi-Service - Builders

Everything from repairs and maintenance to
complete A-Z renovation and decoration.
References – Professional – Reliable

Karl - 06 04 45 63 57 / Paul - 06 34 95 19 71

longden888@lycos.com
www.roofingbuildingservices.com

26 Directory

05 SOUTH west

www.connexionfrance.com

The Connexion January 2019

COMMERCIAL FEATURE

Retirement offers an opportunity to purchase and run a successful French business
The English Institute Toulon
is looking for new owners due
to the anticipated retirement
of current owners Peter and
Tracey Waite. The school is
an English Language training
centre and has operated in
the same rented premises
since 1990.
It is on the second floor of a traditional
French Hausmann style building with a
lift, right in the middle of Toulon with five
training rooms, computer room, reception,
library, kitchen etc. In all about 170m2.
Peter explains, “The English Institute
teaches English to French adults and older
teenagers. The lessons are mainly on an
individual, one to one basis although we

do teach some groups of people within
the same company. Around 50% of our
business comes from businesses in the
area for their employees. The other 50% is
from individuals doing their Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) training.
In France there is now a system where
employees have a personal budget to use
for CPD and they can use it how they want.
English is very much key for all CPD so it is
a popular use of these budgets.
“We have 4 self-employed teachers and a
full-time office manager/PA. The business
turns over, on average, €200,000 per annum.
The owners’ net remuneration is around
20-30% of turnover. Much is dependent
on how much teaching the owners do and
this figure is therefore flexible. The lease is
around 5,000 € per quarter and is renewable
every nine years. The next lease renewal is
in June 2020.
“We will be staying in the area and will

be available for an extensive handover (3-6
months) and for ongoing support.”
Tracey details the purchaser profile; “The
figures given above assume that the owners
do some teaching, it would be highly
beneficial therefore to have experience
in teaching English as a second language
(TESL, CELTA), to have general business
background and to speak French. The
office manager is French and is practically
autonomous but will need day to day
guidance on business decisions. She speaks
a strong intermediate level of English and
most of the teachers are bi-lingual - all are
native English speakers.
“We understand that with BREXIT on
the horizon British people interested in
this opportunity will have a number of
questions regarding the feasibility of living
and running a business in France. This is
something potential purchasers should
inform themselves of, however Connexion

Les Amis Des Chats
promotes sterilisation to improve
the well-being of stray and pet cats
in the rural villages of SW France.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS

to help run our
charity shops and events.
Donations are also gratefully received at
Les amis des chats, 82150 Roquecor.
See how you can support us by visiting
www-les-amis-des-chats.com
Registered charity no: W821000447

is an excellent information source regarding
all things BREXIT.
“Property prices in Toulon are very
reasonable in comparison with some of the
other areas along the South coast, see Le
Bon Coin or SeLoger.com websites.”
If you are interested, in the first instance
please contact Peter and Tracey with a
landline telephone number and they will
call you to discuss further and answer any
initial questions you may have. They require
offers in the region of €150,000.

ELECTRICIAN
Experienced & French Registered.

French lessons
Salies de Béarn
Karine Flandé Piché
Basic french and
conversations for adults
French tutor 6eme à 3eme

karine.flande@gmail.com
Tel. 09 80 38 59 43

Property Management Services

Available for all types of electrical work.
Insured and guaranteed.
Areas: 16,17,24,47

Where each cat recieves the best
possible care and attention from
the day it is admitted to the
moment of its adoption.

Please call to make an appointment on

05 63 94 73 97
www.chatsduquercy.fr

PHOENIX ANIMAL
RESCUE

If you are thinking of giving an
animal a home, please consider
adopting. We have many cats
and dogs looking for loving
homes. Please visit us at:

www.phoenixasso.com
www.facebook.com/
PhoenixAssociationFrance

Consultus Care
and Nursing Short
term positions
available for live
in carers in the UK

Make a difference to an elderly
or vulnerable person’s life
Email:
s.coyne@consultuscare.com
www.consultuscare.com

ALCOHOLICS
ANONYMOUS
SOUTH OF FRANCE
Is Alcohol Costing You
More Than Money?

Call Alcoholics Anonymous.0820 200 257

www.aa-riviera.org
Siret : 49197537100015

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
South West France
Have you a problem?
www.aafrance.net
Or Call
Shepperd 06.74.95.19.66
Angela 05.49.87.79.09

The Connexion January 2019

www.connexionfrance.com

COMMERCIAL FEATURE

CLASSIFIEDS/community

Directory 27

It’s not all about the sale, a good long-term relationship counts most
December saw a major problem in the UK with mobile carrier
O2 where customers lost internet access for a few hours notes
Bob Elliott, Commercial Director of UKTelecom. However the
customer reaction was huge. This simply reflects the importance
we all now place on reliable access to the internet. Of course
there is a lot of equipment that sits behind any telecom service
and the hardware is constantly being replaced by improved
designs that are more reliable and additional services.
The same is true of your home internet
service. Long gone are the days of ‘dial-up’
where it took longer to download a simple
photo or attachment than to make a cup of
tea. As speed and reliability has improved
beyond all recognition over the last 10 or so
years the acceptance of loss of service has
diminished.
This is reflected in the forums where the
most disgruntled let of steam about the latest
loss of their broadband and the length of

time it took to get it restored. There is a clear
pattern between price and response. In fact
changing broadband supplier is as likely as
changing your utility company or bank – so
we tend to put up with quite a lot before we
overcome the inertia and find a new telecom
company.
This suggests that it is best to look
carefully at all providers before committing
to a contract. As they say, ‘the sweetness of
the cheapest deal is soon forgotten when

problems take too long to fix’. Here at
UKTelecom we have taken this to heart.
What makes’ the following: our broadband
and its many add-ons different? Well firstly we
never knowingly miss sell any of our services.
We always check customers’ locations to make
sure we offer the best service that their line
can carry. Once they are live we make sure we
look after them whether it is helping getting
set up, changing passwords, getting the best
wifi speed and many more matters; this is all
done in English or French as they prefer.
But what happens if something stops
working? This is where we take ownership
of the problem and use our experience to
get Orange engineers who look after the
telephone line network to investigate and
repair. This saves customers with little
technical French having to struggle to
describe the problem and understand what
they may need to do. From initiating the
remote repairs to arranging engineer visits to

our customers and translating between them,
everything is included in the monthly charge.
Updates by phone and email are speedy and
detailed.
This high level of customer care is reflected
in the many other things we do. From
accepting payment in £s or €s, allowing
broadband to be suspended when away and
other unique services; the choices really reflect
what customers regard as most important.
The last 5 years of continued growth has
allowed UKTelecom to improve what we do
and there will shortly be announcements of
new deals. So if you think we can offer you
better than you currently receive call us for
good honest and knowledgeable advice before
making your next move. After all it is free and
there is nothing to lose!
UKTelecom
enquiries@uktelecom.net
0805 631632 (free from France) or
44+ (0)1483477100

Alfred Stieglitz is rightly remembered as one
of the first people to have recognised the
artistic potentials of photography. Famous
for his portraits, in particular of Georgia
O’Keeffe, and his uncompromising views
of New York’s modernity, he also gathered
around him young artists known as “precisionists” whose careers he relentlessly promoted. This lecture by Christian Monjou,
at the Théâtre du Ranelagh central Paris, on
January 10, costs €15 for non-members.
Log on to www.padfas.fr for more details.
Sunday Mass in English in the Chapelle St
Patrick CCI Rue des Irlandais, Paris, followed by coffee and chat every Sunday at
11.30am. info@irishchaplaincyparis.fr

Order at our shop at
connexionfrance.com or call
Nathalie on 06 40 55 71 63

19th Annual Conference on Nephrology
(kidney disease) invites all Nephrology and
other related professionals to gather for the
grand meet up at London, UK on May 2223, 2019. https://nephrology.cmesociety.com

You can see more events and post your own at connexionfrance.com/community/events

If you love waltzes and the music of Strauss
and Schubert – even Mozart and Beethoven,
you are invited to an evening of popular
Viennese music presented by Cantabile
and guest singers. Tickets for the event on
January 5 at the Espace Culturel, Eymet, are
available from the town’s tourist office, or
at the door on the night – €10 each, free to
under 12s. Email Philippa Tillyer at
cogulot@yahoo.co.uk for more information.

Scenes from last year’s successful pantomime, Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is this
year’s chosen pantomime to be performed
by La Troupe d’Acteurs du Quercy at the
Salle des Fêtes in Montaigu-de-Quercy on
Saturday, January 26, at 8pm and Sunday,
January 27, at 4pm.
There will be a few twists, of course. The
dwarfs are all 6ft, having all grown up near
nuclear power stations.
The theatre group was formed in 2002 by
four expat couples who had been involved
in amateur dramatics in the UK.
Their first pantomime was Cinderella in

2003, which was performed in a village
hall. Now they have grown to over 80
members, and they put on three annual
productions, one of which is always a
pantomime at the end of January.
The group works hard to make the shows
accessible to a French audience and have
developed a method in which alternate
lines are in French and English.
President John Blaus said: “The different
lines refer to each other so that the script
can be understood in both languages. For
example, one actor may say “Oh yes, I’m

going to the Post Office”, in one language
and the next actor will say “Have you been
to the Post Office?”, in the other language.
“Half of the characters speak French and
half English. This also makes the shows
popular with schools and there will be two
free additional performances, for around
300 local primary school children.
Ticket prices for the January 26 show are
adults €8, children €4. For January 27
adults €5, children €3. Reservations at
latroupeboxoffice@gmail.com or by
telephoning 07 87 65 07 98

28 Directory

features

www.connexionfrance.com

The Connexion January 2019

COMMERCIAL FEATURES

Private for sale property company looking for homes throughout France
Selling property privately in
France has long been popular
with French buyers and
sellers. ARB French Property
run by Adrian and Jacqui
Bunn, have developed an
innovative way for English
speaking sellers to take
advantage of the private for
sale market, attracting buyers
from UK, France, Belgium and
Holland, all keen to save
money and to deal direct.
As Adrian explains. “Feedback from
our sellers has highlighted three areas of
concern. Firstly, the lack of a pro-active
approach to marketing a home, secondly

the quality of some of those clients sent
to view and thirdly a lack of feedback
following a visit. These are three concerns
that ARB have set out to answer.”
Jacqui continues, “We ensure that
every home receives the same high level
of attention with individually designed
property particulars containing an
extensive description, up to 30 photos,
and a free floor plan. Additionally, we
mailshot our 5000-strong database
targeting by specific postcodes such as
London and also specific occupations
including the armed services, police and
teachers.
“A typical ARB purchaser is
undoubtedly a serious buyer, has cash
available, is probably semi-retired or
retired and may well be considering a fulltime move, with many looking to enjoy
the home with family and grand-children.
We are seeing an increasing number

taking advantage of their pension fund
arrangements or cashing in on UK house
prices to purchase in France.”
Adrian adds, “To help sellers further
we introduced our Platinum Plus service
which is proving very popular with sellers.
The scheme has a one-off fee which
includes a visit to photograph, floorplan
plus advice on home dressing ready for
viewings. There is no commission or
balance payment due, saving thousands.“
After a highly successful 2018 ARB now
need homes for sale throughout all areas
of France. If you think your home will
appeal to buyers from the UK, France and
beyond, if you want a pro-active approach
and the attention your home deserves,
please call or email ARB French Property.
+44 (0)1803 469367
info@arbfrenchproperty.com
www.arbfrenchproperty.com

HARS help up-and-coming athlete
The Hearing Aid Repair Shop
(HARS) helps people of all
ages, by expertly repairing
their hearing aids.
The day after Boxing Day we helped a
young athlete by repairing her hearing aid
so she could study for an important
German GCSE mock exam at the start of
the spring term.
A member of Berkshire’s Newbury
Athletic Club, Charlotte Payne has earned
numerous accolades for her sporting
achievements and was runner up at the
Young Deaf Sports Personality of the Year
in November 2016.
Charlotte’s mum, Denise, said, “We
turned up in the snow with my daughter’s
hearing aid which had died over Christmas.
We were met with a smile by the wonderful

team at HARS who helped us out on the
spot. We were overwhelmed by their
kindness and won’t go anywhere else from
now on.”
Charlotte competes in the
throwing events – discus and
hammer. In 2016, Charlotte
was UK National Champion
and UK No. 1 in Under 15
Discus and UK No. 3 in
Under 15 Hammer.
Last year Charlotte moved
into Under 17 category and
became UK No. 1 in Under 17 Hammer
4kg, UK No. 3 in Under 17 Discus, South
England Under 17 Hammer Champion and
championship record holder. She was also
a silver medallist in hammer at the School
Games and a bronze medallist in Under
17 Discus at the English Schools
Championships.

As well as all that, Charlotte has been the
best UK deaf female thrower in hammer,
discus and shot put, for all age groups, for
the past 2 years.
Denise said, “Charlotte
is now the youngest in
her age group and has yet
another year at this level
to improve on her
amazing achievements.”
This year Charlotte has
set her sights on being
No. 1 in the UK in
hammer and discus, representing the UK in
the Under 18 European Championships in
Hungary in August and competing in the
School Games and Schools Track & Field
International.
Denise said, “Hopefully Charlotte will
have a busy summer, competing in various
national and international events, if she can

successfully win all the necessary qualifying
events beforehand. She’s capable, so it’s
definitely on the cards. Fingers crossed!
You rarely find a thrower who does both
hammer and discus to a high standard, so
Charlotte will probably have to decide
between them. It’s going to be a tough
choice to pick which one.”
The HARS team wish Charlotte all the
best with her studies and athletic
aspirations over the coming years. We hope
to be watching her compete at major
championships in the future.
If, like Charlotte, you need your hearing
aids repaired you can send them to us for a
free, no obligation quote.
For more details go to
www.hars.co.uk,
email info@hars.co.uk or
call us on 00 44 1635 48724.

Transportation company delivers “anything legal”
Possessions getting “lost” en route – this is a removal
horror story heard time and time again. However reliability,
trustworthiness and respect are qualities and the
cornerstones of the service that George White European
provides to its customers.

“At George White European we pride
ourselves on our old-fashioned values,”
said George. “We really look after all our
clients. We offer a bespoke service to each
and every one, and always ensure that
goods and belongings are delivered on
time, safely and without any problems.”
Having started driving over 30 years ago
George has obtained an award from the
European Road Transport Union for three
million kilometres of safe driving.
George Steve and Mick are highly
knowledgeable about French and British
roads and have been specialising in
southwest France for more than 15 years,

always delivering and picking up when
expected, at the agreed price. Over the
years the company has evolved into a
trusted network of like-minded ownerdrivers and are able to cope with up to 80
pallets a week from their warehouse and
storage facility near Nottingham.
The team consists of Mick, David, (the
warehouse manager) Steve, and of course
George. Also Ray who has panel vans and
Lee who drives a large low loader.
It is not just removals that George White
European team transport to and from
France, the company delivers anything
from bathrooms, furniture, kitchens, cars,

fencing, horse feed, doors, windows and
building materials to tractors, diggers,
dumpers, trailers and anything else what
will go legally into a trailer.
All customers need to do is email
enquiresgwe@gmail.com for a quote and
then arrange for their goods to be delivered
to the warehouse near Nottingham. The
company can act as a bespoke local haulage
service to collect your goods.
There are Travis Perkins and a B&Q depots
close to the warehouse which will deliver
larger building materials direct to the
warehouse for you.
“Customers just get in contact with the
Builders Merchants, email us that the goods
are on their way and they come straight to
our warehouse,“ said George, “And, as a
special bonus, any customer having goods
delivered from our depot can also order a
small supermarket shop as an added extra.”
Depending on the areas being collected

Top tractor and machinery deals delivered to France
Cowling Agriculture prides
itself on friendly advice and
excellent aftersales service –
and all at competitive prices
With 20 years of experience, Cowling
Agriculture supplies tractors and machinery
to smallholders and farmers in the UK and
Europe.
The company keeps 80 to 100 tractors
in stock, both new and used, along with a
comprehensive range of machinery. It also
has a well-equipped workshop and proficient
staff who service and repair used tractors and
machinery.
It specialises in putting together tractor and
machinery packages for first-time tractor
owners. Kim Cowling from the company
said: “We take the time to listen to customers’
requirements so that we can supply a

competitively priced and suitable package.
We are often able to supply tractors and
machinery to customers in France for a much
lower price than they could source them
locally. We pride ourselves on our friendly
advice and excellent aftersales service.”
Cowling Agriculture has been a dealer for
the Landlegend range of tractors – which
Kim says are the best value and most popular
compact tractor on the market – for more
than 10 years.
“The Landlegend 25hp tractor provides a
very good spec for a very good price,” she
said. “It is £5,395. It can easily be fitted with
a 4in1 loader and backhoe, making it ideal
for farmers, smallholders, self-builders and
equestrian yards. Our second-hand tractors
start from around £2,500 and come fully
serviced, checked over and with a minimum
of six months warranty. We can team these
up with toppers, chain harrows, logsplitters or

rotovators etc.”
For customers in France wanting to see
the tractors and machinery in action, the
company can put them in touch with one
of its many existing tractor owners. Kim
said: “We have 50-plus Landlegend tractors
working in France, plus many other used
tractors and individual machinery items. We
have many customers who come back to us to
add new machinery.”
The company regularly has deliveries
covering the UK, Ireland and France and the
driver is able to fully demonstrate the tractors
and machinery on arrival.
It keeps machinery for all seasons and often
runs special seasonal offers. The stock list can
be viewed on the website.
www.cowlingagri.com
www.landlegend.co.uk
+ 44 1458 269210

Using large multipurpose vehicles
allows George White
European to cut
charges to
customers
from and delivered to, the minimum load
could be as little as 1 pallet size of trailer
floor space, 1200mm x1000mm. A linear
metre of removals, ex our warehouse
(which is 2.6m tall and 2.4m wide and 1.0m
long), with prices from as little as £240 +
VAT. At the other end of the scale,
a full 13.6m-long load (max 24 tonnes) of
domestic removals can be handled for
around £2,800 + VAT, depending on the
locations involved.
As the team typically operate a weekly
service along routes from Dieppe or Le

Havre to the southwest of France, the costs
are kept low as the vehicles can be filled
with other goods for much of the journey.
“George White European gives great
service at a great price,” said a recent
customer. “Do not be fooled into thinking
that they are too cheap – they are just
honest.”
+33 (0)6 23 03 85 59
+44 (0)7768 867360
enquiriesgwe@gmail.com
www.georgewhiteeuropean.co.uk

The Connexion January 2019

www.connexionfrance.com

COMMERCIAL FEATURES

features

Directory 29

The best way to furnish your property in France
Furniture for France has
many years’ experience of
supplying high quality
furniture to its customers
FURNITURE for France is now in its
fifteenth year of supplying quality furniture
to properties in France.

New French inspired oak furniture
designs being introduced for 2018

The company specialises in providing
clients with a customised service that offers
good quality UK-sourced furniture without
the hassle of arranging delivery and ordering furniture in the UK.
Furniture for France works with its customers all the way from the initial enquiry
through to installing the furniture in their
homes.
Offering advice on all aspects of a customer’s order, such as sofa coverings, wood
finishes and delivery schedules, ensures they
are kept informed every step of the way.
“With 15 years’ experience and thousands
of deliveries under our belts throughout
France, we have encountered almost
everything and put that to good use when
advising and helping customers find the
right furniture for their property in France,”
said the company’s managing director Brian
Muir.
The delivery service offered includes room

by room installation of all furniture ordered,
this includes assembly of all oak beds and
wardrobes as these come in sections for ease
of access to difficult staircases. All other
items are solid, no assembly pieces. Our deliveries are timed to the hour on the agreed
date of delivery. The Furniture for France
face book page will keep you up to date with
all the latest news.
Six new ranges of oak have recently been
introduced, including traditional styles in a
rustic finish. With competitively priced solid oak furniture it is no wonder Furniture
for France had its best ever year in 2017.
In addition to the new oak furniture a
choice of 12 different paint colours are
now available on all pine furniture. Wood
samples can also be sent out to customers
if required.
“With delivery costs starting at just £59 for
any quantity of furniture, there really isn’t a
better or easier way to furnish a property in

France,” said Mr Muir.
Throughout 2017
sofas continued to be the
best-selling individual
item for the company.
Loose-covered designs
are always top of the list
with the introduction
of more complex fabric
patterns and colours
allowing customers to
custom cover the sofa
of their choice. “This
process can take some
Stylish Highcleare fixed cover sofa design
time to work through,
but as the product has a life expectancy of
introduce great ranges of furniture for
over 15 years, it pays to get it right,” said Mr delivery to our customers in France without
Muir. Furniture for France makes deliveries compromising on quality or service.”
as far afield as Geneva and Nice, as well as
locally to customers in the Dordogne, the
06 46 49 73 45
Lot, Charente and Limousin.
info@furnitureforfrance.co.uk
Mr Muir added: “We will continue to
www.furnitureforfrance.co.uk

Complete solution to fosse septique problems
There’s little worse than
a smelly or blocked fosse
septique, but there is a
simple, ecological and costeffective treatment, say
Eco-tabs Europe founders
Shelly and Tim Burns-O’Regan
WITH costly emptying charges and the
potential to smell or get blocked, fosse
septiques can be a homeowner’s nightmare.
But an innovative product now exists
which not only takes away the need to
empty your fosse, but also removes odours
and reduces blockages.
Eco-tabs are purely bacterial-based,
not a combination of enzymes like many
competitive products. They help to increase
overall system efficiency, reduce costly
maintenance and eliminate the need for

toxic chemicals and special handling
procedures.
The tablets work by oxygenating the water
in the fosse, removing hydrogen sulfide
odours, preventing corrosion, and initiating
aerobic biological breakdown of organic
sludge, including oils and grease.
Store bought products that are enzyme
based liquify the solids for them to reform
later. So you will still need to pump out
your tank. Eco-tabs degrade the solids and
remove those pesky odours.
Company founders Shelly and Tim BurnsO’Regan say: “Our company is founded on
the core belief that eco-friendly, non-toxic
waste treatment products have become a
necessity in today’s environmentally sensitive and fragile ecosystem. We also provide
excellent customer service and follow up as
fed back from our customers.”
An eco-tabs Clean out Pack starts at 66€
( exc TVA, p+p) for a standard 3000 litre

tank compared to the cost of a pump out
truck ranging from 125€ up to 400€, this is
a no-brainer.
“Simply flush a tablet down the toilet each
month to maintain a healthy fosse septique.
Or, as an alternative to pumping out, use
two tabs and one bag of our Shock powder
and watch the magic.
“Not only do the tabs oxygenate the water,
which removes the odours, the sludge is
eaten away by the bacteria. The result:
a clean fosse which does not need to be
pumped out… all that remains is water.”
Eco-tabs are compatible for old septic
tanks right through to the new microstation
systems.
To ensure that you are only buying the
products necessary for your tank, we offer
a Personalised Treatment Plan which will
recommend the ideal products for you.
Visit: www.eco-tabs.biz and click on the link
for a Personalised Treatment Plan.

Eco-tabs are 100% ecological and mean you don’t need to pump out your fosse
For more information, visit the website or contact Tim on +33 (0)6 35 96 95 12
www.eco-tabs.biz
info@eco-tabs.biz

SATATISFFACTTION
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128 125 €

87 500 €

164 000 €

105 575 €

169 125 €

WITH WEEKLY SERVICES
FRANCE
NCE
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AND
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FR
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AND SPAIN,
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P N,
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WE HAVE heard a lot recently
about the gilets jaunes – but
it’s good to hear too about the
gilets oranges.
They work for a little-known
but vital charity that collects
food from supermarkets and
farmers, then distributes it to
the needy in a co-ordinated
network across the country.
This is the Banques
Alimentaires, which provides
half the food given out for free
in the country every year. It
ensures that two million people
get decent meals they would
not otherwise be able to afford.
With around 100 warehouses
across the country, it relies
heavily on its 6,000 volunteers,
the gilets oranges, who make up
90% of its workforce.
The organisation, the first
food bank in Europe, was set
up in 1984 and modelled itself
on initiatives in Canada and
the US.
Sister Cécile Bigo issued an
appeal in the newspaper La
Croix: “Man has invented ways

of going to the moon. Cannot
his heart invent a way to put an
end to food waste and feed all
of humanity?”
President Jacques Bailet, himself a volunteer, says that not
many people realise the huge
logistical effort behind fetching
and sorting the food: “The aim
of our organisation is to fight
both against food waste and
lack of food for some people.
“Unlike other organisations,
such as Restos du Cœur, we do
not buy any of our food. We
collect 113,000 tonnes every
year, of which 73,000 tonnes
would otherwise be destroyed.
“For example, a supermarket
cannot sell a bag of clementines if one of them is rotten.
But we can open the bag and
use the good ones.
“Supermarkets place orders
for ready-made sandwiches
every morning, but the sandwich makers cannot know
what the order will be in
advance and so they make
more than necessary.

Above and right, volunteers
sort fruit and vegetables at a
Banques Alimentaires store
Sometimes we can pick up as
many as 4,000 sandwiches
which would otherwise be
thrown away. We also get food
when the public donate during
national collection days.”
Mr Bailet says the work of the
association saves a needy
household €92 a month on
average, which is vital to help
the poorest people meet their
bills at the end of the month.
He says being a volunteer
with the Banques Alimentaires
is rewarding: “I find I meet
people I would never have met
otherwise and it is something
that we enjoy, as well as helping others. We welcome all

kinds of skills, from driving
lorries, working with computers, logistics, sorting food or
going to companies to
persuade them to hand over
their food waste to us. A centre
may be processing 4,000 to

5,000 tonnes of food a day so
we always need help.
“You can come for half a day
a week or every day... just
whatever suits you.”
You can sign up to volunteer
at giletsorange.fr.

Volunteer sapeur pompier’s
lot is surprisingly happy one
The Bordeaux Women’s Club is seeking new members

Old US wives’ club now
embraces every woman
Bordeaux Women’s Club
(bordeauxwomensclub.org)
aims to help international
English-speaking women meet
and adapt comfortably into
French life and culture.
President Margo Durand said
it is harder than people think
for women arriving in
Bordeaux from all over the
world to settle in.
She said: “It can almost be
even more difficult for French
women coming back from a
period abroad, because everybody expects they will have a
life waiting for them here, but
it is not often the case.
“We have members from 25
different countries. It is super
and makes it very international
and interesting.”
She says that members have
to speak English fluently: “The
more comfort and reassurance
you have within one group, the
more confidence you then have
to join French activities.”
The club was founded in

1951 and was originally a US
officers’ wives club, but Mrs
Durand says they are proud
that the club still exists even
though the American army has
left Bordeaux: “The club
adapted when the few
American women left decided
they wanted to continue.”
It is strictly female-only:
“This is for historical reasons
but we have decided to keep it
this way. It is good to have one
club just for women because
together they support, empower and understand each other.”
Members can join in a range
of activities including a cinema
group, book clubs, local visits,
wine tasting, a walk-and-talk
group, and one for women to
practise their French.
Neighbourhood groups have
developed for people who live
outside the city, to make it
easier for them to meet up.
Membership costs €30 a year
and Mrs Durand said new
members are always welcome.

FRANCE’S sapeurs pompiers
fire service would love to
attract more volunteer recruits.
Volunteers can be of any
nationality as long as they live
in France, and the organisation
is keen to point out that they
do not have to be young,
muscly supermen – just people
in basic good health.
Marie-Françoise Woodward
has both French and British
nationality and joined four
years ago when she was 47.
She says being a volunteer
firefighter is an amazing thing
to do: “I love it more than I
could have imagined.
“You cannot deny the basic
usefulness of it and you feel
you are doing something
completely significant.
“It is a great way of becoming
integrated, because you are
part of a team and you help
people in your community.”
She joined when she realised
she needed to learn more about
first aid. “It is remote, where I
live in the Lot, and when my
daughter was ill and had
difficulty breathing one night, I
had to wait for two hours for
the doctor. The nearest
hospital was half an hour away.
“A friend said a lot of sapeur
pompier work is first aid-based
and persuaded me to join.”
Some 73% of sapeur pompier
work is as an emergency
ambulance service. Only 6% is
for fires, 6% for road accidents

The forgotten
story of brave
Ulster nurses
in Great War

THE remarkable story of a
group of nurses from Ulster
who set up a hospital in France
to look after soldiers during
World War One has been
turned into a book.
Author Claire McElhinney
(above) was inspired to write
after discovering her grandmother was among the group.
She wanted to highlight
women’s roles in the war as she
says most of the stories from the
time focused on fighting men.
She said: “I hope my book will
help redress the balance, shedding new light on the story of
pioneering women from Ulster
and letting my grandmother
Edith and her fellow volunteers
have their voices heard 100
years on.”
Many young women in Ulster
were already trained in first aid
because they feared civil war.
They volunteered as soon as
the Great War broke out.
The UK declined their offer
of help as it thought the war
would soon be over. However,
one of the women had contacts
in France so, not wanting to
give up, they applied to the
French, who were short of
nurses and said yes.
Their first 80-bed Ulster
Volunteer Hospital was in Pau.
The women also cared for
German soldiers at a nearby
PoW camp. In 1916, they were
moved to Lyon and looked
after French soldiers returning
from the battle of Verdun.
The hospital was funded by
donations from Ulster but in
1917 it had to be disbanded.
Claire said of her grandmother: “She died when I was
two, and none of her family
ever asked her about her time
in France. She came back to be
a farmer’s wife and had eight
children. My uncle did tell me
French homework was always
easy because his mother helped
him, but he never asked why
she knew the language.”
Tell Them of Us was funded by
the Ulster-Scots Agency. For a
free copy (just pay p&p) call 00
44 28 90 436710/email info@
ulster-scots.com.

Marie-Françoise Woodward became a volunteer at the age of 47
Colonel Yves Marcoux is
and 15% for other activities,
responsible for volunteer firesuch as responding to natural
fighters in the Lot and says 930
disasters.
out of 1,000 people working for
New recruits face 35 days of
training. After the first 10 days, the sapeurs pompiers in his
department are volunteers.
which focuses on first aid, vol“The country could not
unteers can go on-call.
afford to have round-the-clock
Mrs Woodward said: “We
professionals on duty for many
carry a pager with us, which
stations. We are always looking
tells the station whether we are
available or not. For example, if for new members.”
Volunteers must be on call
I am alone at home with my
children I will not be called up. for one weekend and a few
nights every month. You need
“If I am free, as soon as I get
to live within 10km of a fire
the call, I drop everything, get
station and speak French well.
in the car, go to the station,
change, find out what the
mission is and we’re off.
“We are usually a team of
The Connexion regularly features news and events from
four with an experienced chief
community groups all over France. We would be pleased to
and when we get to the scene
publicise your association (non-commercial) – it’s a great way
we have to make a medical
to bring in new members and it is free! You can submit events
assessment, give first aid and
via connexionfrance.com/Community To have your association/
decide whether to take the
group featured, email details to news@connexionfrance.com
person to hospital or not.”

Have your group featured

32 Practical

connexionfrance.com

A ToWn in the
Gironde has gone
back to nature in
search of a costeffective way to
solve its growing
mosquito problem.
Bats are natural predators for the insects and
eat up to 2,000 each a day. So Bègles, just south
of Bordeaux, has installed bat and swallow nesting boxes.
By the end of 2018, some 100 boxes were in
place on public buildings across the town – and
the mairie is offering 100 householders a €10
refund if they buy and install a box themselves.
The boxes are seen as a cheap, effective and
permanent solution to the increasing numbers of
mosquitoes in the town every year.
Mosquitoes, including tiger mosquitoes which
have spread to 62 departments in France including the Gironde, are known to carry a number of
viruses, including dengue fever, the zika virus
and the chikungunya virus.
Symptoms of dengue and chikungunya include
severe joint pain, fever, headaches, weeping eyes
and a rash. Every year, from May to November,
health authorities in France are on high alert
for the possible spread of diseases carried by
mosquitoes.
It is not the only step that authorities in the
town have taken.
Bègles is one of an increasing number of
communes in France to turn off their street
lights for a portion of the night. As well as
cutting costs and reducing light pollution, the
move helps the local bat population, said mayor
Clément Rossignol Puech.

Notaires ‘must modernise and go high-tech’
NOTAIRES must be ready to
reform and modernise – and that
means embracing technology,
their new president has said.
Jean-François Humbert said
notaires have to gear up to
provide the service people will
expect in 10 years’ time.
He told Connexion: “We need to make progress
with integrating technology, IT, artificial intelligence and, especially, video-conferencing so we
can mediate and work with people, wherever
they are geographically. At the moment, people
can use a procuration, which means legally giving someone else the power to sign a document
for them, but how much more personal it would
be if they could be present via a video-link and
sign electronically. When someone buys a
house, it’s nice for them to be present.”
Mr Humbert would like to contribute to developing new services and diversifying activities.
He said: “I’d like to see notaires providing more
mediation, especially when it comes to international affairs, in Europe and the United States,
for example. I’d like French notaires to be able to
help clients even when they move to, say Wash­
ington, on all subjects, including international
taxation. So many people are on the move now.
“Some­one who owns a flat in Paris might be
working in Rome but want to rent the flat to
someone who is currently in Amsterdam.
Notaires need to be able to help in these complicated international situations.”
Mr Humbert, 61, president of the Conseil
Supérieur du Notariat (CSN), who has had a long
career as a notaire in Paris, says he wants to
ensure the profession maintains its character
across the nation, meaning people get the same
service in the countryside as in the city.

Photo: Romuald Meigneux

Batty solution to
mosquito problem

The Connexion January 2019

A notaire is both a professional and a public
servant who represents the state when legal
documents are drawn up, often in relation to big
steps of life: recor­ding a will, sorting out inheritance, formal gifts, creating a mortgage, buying
and selling property, drawing up marriage contracts, and assigning power of attorney.
Contracts drawn up by a notaire cannot be
legally challenged, says Mr Humbert. “This
means, for example, that if a tenancy agreement
is drawn up privately and the tenant then falls
behind with the rent, the owner would have to
seek redress through the courts. But if that tenancy agreement was drawn up by a notaire, the
owner could go straight to the bailiffs as the
order to pay has already been made.”
Part of the job is finding agreement between
parties signing a contract, he says. “Hu­mans
actually prefer to find agreement than get into
disputes and that’s what attracted me to the profession: finding agreement between people.”
The only downside about the job is that sometimes the law can be too rigid, he says. “But we
have to apply the law. That’s our job.”
The 2015 ‘Loi Macron’ made it easier for
notaires to set up new offices, which he says was
a change that surprised some in the profession,
though people have now got used to it. Prior to
this, notaires had to buy an existing practice at a
high cost, or enter a competitive exam to obtain
one of a few rare vacant or new places (60 were
created from 2005 to 2013). The law aimed to
allow qualified people to apply to open one of
around 1,000 new offices across France, with a
certain number on offer in each of 247 “free
set-up zones”. [On going to press the Conseil
supérieur du notariat (CSN) issued a statement
‘deploring’ a ‘second wave’ creating 479 extra
offices on top of 1,600 which it said had set up

since summer 2017. It said it was too soon and
more time was needed for the existing new
notaires to settle into their jobs. It was considering legal action in opposition to this].
Mr Humbert notes that because notaires represent the state, the state has a larger role in the
French legal system than in the UK and the US
– countries which consider that democracy is
served by making the legal system independent.
“In the US, the legal system was set up by
people fleeing state authority, so of course they
made an independent legal system. In France,
our history is different,” he says.
All notaires belong to the CSN, which exists
to represent them in dealings with the state, and
to regulate the profession: how they become
qualified, are co-ordinated and are disciplined.
Many people’s first dealings with a notaire are
when they buy a property. “It’s one of the most
important things people do in their lives, and
usually the most valuable purchase they make.
“The money paid to the notaire is made up of
taxes which go straight to the state, expenses,
and of course his or her fees. They are around
8% of the value of the property [and around
13% of that fee goes to the notaire]. A buyer
should be informed what the notaire’s fees will
be before they buy, to avoid nasty surprises.”
In the past a large majority of notaires used to
be male, as in many professions, but Mr
Humbert says that has changed.
“Today around 45% are women, and among
under-35s about 60% are women. This is in line
with the student intake at French law schools.”
The government fixes fees for some kinds of
work but others can be set freely. Many, but not
all, notaires offer some free advice, including at
Conseil du Coin sessions in cafés on the first
Saturday of the month (conseilducoin.fr).

Is the Cesu system
only for residents?
IS IT true that the Cesu system which simplifies employing a person in the home,
such as a cleaner, is only for
residents and not open to
holiday home owners? N.L.
YES.... and no. A spokeswoman
for Acoss, the body in charge of
the national Urssaf network,
said it is correct that nonresidents should not use the
standard Cesu system – but
there is a similar scheme specifically for them, called Tpee.
People can sign up for this at
www.tpee.urssaf.fr and it is for
anyone who employs workers in
the home for personal services,
such as gardening or cleaning,
during their stays in France. It
helps people make sure they are
meeting their responsibilities in
terms of social charge contributions for the employee.
To join the scheme, you click
adhérer under Identification.
The site has an English option.

Is a council pension
a ‘government’ one?
MY WIFE is due to start her
UK local government pension
soon. We are permanently
living in France and have
lived here for 12 years. We
pay French tax. Is the
pension taxable in France or
does it come under the type
of UK government pension
scheme that is taxed in the
UK? D.S.
Yes, a local authority pension
is usually a “government” one.
The easiest way of knowing
this is whether the pension is
paid by the Paymaster General
or not.
If so, then yes it is a government pension, and if not, then

Money and tax
changes in 2019

Send your
financial queries to

Hugh MacDonald at

news@connexionfrance.com
no. Otherwise, the pension
generally qualifies as a government pension if it is paid by a
government agency.
To see which pensions qualify,
you can also check the list at
this site: tinyurl.com/y9w8n7by.

Is there a double tax
treaty with Germany?
I know a tax agreement
exists between the UK and
France but does the same
apply between Germany and
France? If tax is deducted at
source in Germany, can it be
taxed again in France? C.C.
THE GENERAL principle of
double tax treaties is to ensure
it is clear which country has
what rights to tax what income
– and one does exist between
France and Germany.
So, in general, if income is
taxed in Ger­many then that
same income should not also be
taxed in France. This said, it is
not because the income is taxed
in Germany that France has no
right to tax it since, per the double tax treaties, it may be a kind
of income that France has the
right to tax and not Germany. In
such a case you would have to
confirm to the German tax
authorities that you were resident in France, and not in Ger­
many, so that Germany can stop
taxing the income.
It should also be noted that
some sources of income, such
as rental income and government pension income (for

The Connexion welcomes queries and publishes a selection with
answers every edition. However, please note that we cannot enter
into correspondence on money topics. Queries may be edited for
length and style. Due to the sensitive nature of topics we do not
publish full names or addresses on these pages.

Practical: Money 33

connexionfrance.com

example, from diplomatic
service, military, civil servants)
are only taxable in the country
from which they come.
These incomes are not taxed
in the country of residence but
are “taken into account” in the
French tax calculations. This is
to ensure someone does not
benefit twice from each country’s personal allowances and
increasing tax bands. While the
amount of tax paid in the foreign country, if any, is ignored,
the effect may be to place any
French taxable income into a
higher tax band.

Can I work for foreign
firm from France?
IF I relocate from the UK to
France but continue to be
paid in GBP in the UK for the
company that I work for (I
am a homeworker so can
work from anywhere), what
do I need to do to be a legal
resident in France? R.N.
THESE issues are complicated,
partly due to the application of
VAT laws, although this applies
to most countries, not just
France.
While you may be paid by a
foreign company, you will
physically be working in France
and, technically, the product of
that work is liable to French
VAT, irrespective of whether or
not this work were to be
exempt from VAT, or chargeable at 0%, or below any threshold. As a result, the foreign

company that is paying you will
be seen by the French tax
authorities as having a
theoretical office here in France,
called a succursale, and it is this
office that will be seen to be
employing you, not your current employer in the UK.
So any employer and employee social security contributions
will be due in France on what
would be seen to be your
French salary, as will any VAT,
corporation tax on the profit
the succursale makes, and other
company taxes.
The bottom line is that you
cannot work in France for a
foreign company and be
remunerated by that foreign
company since, were you to do
so, you would be causing major
problems for your employer.
The exception to this is if
your employer has a French
company to which you can be
seconded, as the rules relating
to secondments are different.
Accordingly, the best solution
for you would be to see if you
could work as a contractor, but
this would entail working for
other people or companies as
well in order, pursuant to
French employment laws, to
avoid your being nonetheless
still considered as an employee
of your contracting company.
This is an area that you would
need to discuss with your
em­ployer as it affects them as
well as you, and would cause
them more problems than you.
Likewise, it is an area that
would need consultation with a
specialised professional.

The information on these pages is of a general nature. You should
not act or refrain from acting on it without taking professional
advice on the specific facts of your case. No liability is accepted in
respect of these articles. These articles are intended only as a general guide. Nothing herein constitutes actual financial advice.

A NEW at-source tax system
starts for all on January 1, 2019.
Online/paper declarations will
still however need to be completed every spring.
French salaries and pensions
will be paid with tax deducted,
based on a rate established from
your last declaration and noted
on your last avis d’imposition (or
based on the level of the income
alone, if you requested this).
Possible refunds or extra tax
will apply next year once you
have declared your actual 2019
income in May/June 2020.
If you have regular rental
income or foreign income,
instalments will be deducted
from your French bank account
either monthly or quarterly,
based on previous declarations.
If you previously benefited
from certain tax credits or
reductions (but not the CITE
for eco-friendly work in the
home) you should receive a
60% advance into your bank
account from January 15, based
on the declaration made for
2017 income in May/June 2018.
THE LOWERING of the
taxe d’habitation for 80% of
households continues this year
with 65% off 2019’s bill for
those eligible. Full exemption
will follow in 2020. In some
cases the promised 30% off in
2018 proved less significant
than hoped for due to rises in
the rate applied by mairies and
intercommunal bodies.
INCOME tax bands for 2019
have risen by 1.6% linked to
inflation. They are therefore:
0 - €9,964 = tax-free
€9,964 - €27,519 = 14%
€27,519 - €73,779 = 30%
€73,779 - €156,244 = 41%
€156,244 and above = 45%

IT WAS announced that banks
agreed with President Macron
not to raise fees in 2019. However commentators said in reality
it will make no difference as
hardly any rises were planned.
AROUND 3.5million pensioners with net earnings of
less than €2,000/month will
go back to the 2017 rate of

CSG social charge on pensions
(6.6% instead of 8.3%), it was
announced in response to the
gilets jaunes protests.
It comes on top of plans in the
2019 Finance Law to allow an
extra 300,000 retirees on moderate pensions to benefit from
the means-tested reduced rate
of CSG charge on their pensions
(3.8% instead of 8.3%). In 2019
the higher rate will only apply
to households which have been
over the threshold for two consecutive years, meaning those
that went into the higher rate
for the first time in 2018 will not
be included. Residents who do
not receive a French pension but
receive a state pension from another EU state do not pay social
charges on pension income.
THE AAH benefit for disabled
adults and the Aspa pension
top-up are both being increased
by more than the usual amount.
AAH will be boosted by €40/
month for its 1.1 million
recipients. Aspa, claimed by
1.3million people, increases by
€35/month as of January.
AROUND 20 “little taxes”
which do not bring in much
money for the state are being
abolished. They include tax
levies on flour, semolina and
wheat gruel; on the addition of
sugar to the grape harvest; and a
“contribution on hole punching
and precious metal tests”.
Also on the list is the annual
tax on mobile residences, payable by those living permanently
in a caravan or mobile home.
THE TV licence fee stays at €139.
ALL foreign bank accounts
must be declared as part of your
income tax declaration this year,
even if they have not been used.
ONLINE platforms such as
Airbnb are now meant to notify
the tax authorities of your annual
earnings if they exceed €3,000.
This will not exempt you from
also declaring the income, whatever the amount, with exceptions
such as occasionally selling your
own belongings or carsharing if
expenses alone are involved.

Four rules to follow for a secure financial future...
This column is by Bill Blevins
of Blevins Franks financial advice
group (www.blevinsfranks.com).
He has decades of experience
advising expatriates in France
and co-authored the Blevins
Franks Guide to Living in France
January is a time when many people reflect on
the previous 12 months and look ahead to what
the coming year will bring.
You may set goals for the year, such as exercising more, taking up a new hobby or planning a
dream holiday.
When it comes to financial planning, however,
focusing on one year is not nearly enough, you
need to plan ahead for the future.
While you should always consider current
developments that could impact your finances,
good wealth management is all about establishing
your goals, both short and long-term, then setting
up a strategic plan to achieve them.
Planning for a financially secure retirement
For many of us, the ultimate goal is to be able to
enjoy our dream retirement.
Since you are reading Connexion, that is likely to
involve living in France or at least spending a lot
of time here, and you will want to make the most
of what it has to offer.
And the good news is that life expectancy in
France is a year longer than the UK!
Not only are people living longer, they are also
enjoying a lifestyle that is more active (and arguably more expensive) than previous generations.
While this is welcome, we need to ensure our
money comfortably lasts as long as we do.
Many retirees favour low-risk, ‘safer’ invest-

ments like bank deposits. But, you have potentially 30 years to fund in retirement, which means
this is actually a risky option.
Slowly but surely the cost of living increases
every year. Even lower inflation rates can erode
the spending power of your savings over the
longer term, so you need them to at least earn
enough to keep up with inflation (and ideally beat
it), but with today’s low interest rates this is a
struggle.
Britons in France who keep savings in sterling
also need to factor in exchange rate risk, as currency movements can make a noticeable difference to the amount of income you receive.
Start by establishing what your goals are (what
income and capital growth you need, etc), and
obtain an objective analysis of your risk profile.
Working with an experienced and regulated
adviser, you can then build a portfolio, with a
careful spread of investments across asset classes,
regions, market sectors, companies, currencies
etc, designed to achieve your goals within your
risk tolerance.
The key is to find the right balance of risk and
return for your peace of mind.

Planning to protect your wealth from tax
I mentioned inflation above, but when considering your income needs you also need to factor in
taxation.
You should ideally review your tax planning
once a year to take account of any tax reforms –
and here in France they happen often and can be
quite substantial!
That said, there is only one significant tax
change in France in 2019, and that is the introduction of PAYE. But if you have not reviewed
your tax planning after the key 2018 reforms, you
should do so now.

Planning for the inevitable
Life expectancy may be increasing, but don’t use
this as an excuse to put off estate planning – or
you risk leaving it too late.
Again, start by defining your goals. Who you
want to inherit your estate and in what amounts?
Do you want to plan how and when they receive
their inheritance?
You then need to research the succession laws
and inheritance taxes in France and anywhere
else you have assets and heirs.
You need to understand the EU succession regulation ‘Brussels IV’ and the pros and cons of
using this for your cross-border estate planning.
Then take advice on how to achieve your wishes
for your heirs and to make the process as straightforward as possible for them.
At the same time, you should consider the tax
implications of your options, to find the optimum
solution for you.
Planning for Brexit
We cannot talk about planning for 2019 without
mentioning Brexit.
Negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement
were ongoing as I wrote this, so I cannot comment on what the final agreement may be, but
this is a good time to consider whether you need
to adjust your financial planning.
If you are living in France, your financial planning should be set up for France.
Do you own too many UK investments? Are all
your savings in sterling, putting you at mercy of
exchange rate swings? Are you hoping to transfer
your pension out of the UK in the future?
Be aware that many speculate the UK could
widen the 25% ‘overseas transfer charge’ after
Brexit, so that transfers within the EU are also
taxed.

When it comes to the taxation, your treatment
as an expatriate is determined by the UK/ France
tax treaty that exists independently of the EU.
There are, however, some circumstances where
taxation may be affected.
For example, if you hold UK bonds, you may
lose beneficial tax treatment in France once the
UK leaves the EU and EEA.
In this case you may want to consider moving to
arrangements which provide full tax benefits in
France.
Interestingly, we are now coming across more
people in the UK who are looking beyond Brexit
to what will happen next.
They are concerned that a change of government could impose a new taxation policy which
would impact the wealth they have worked hard
to build up in preparation for their retirement.
Even if there is no change at No. 10, are tax rises
on the middle classes still a possibility?
If you dream of living in France and are worried
about what may happen in the UK, perhaps now
is the time to start exploring your options for a
tax-efficient move to France.
Even if you cannot leave the UK yet, it would be
good to have a plan in place, especially if it is one
that could help you move sooner rather than later.
Speaking to an advisory firm experienced at
helping UK residents move to France should provide a wealth of useful information and advice.
Very best wishes to all Connexion readers for
2019 and beyond.
n Tax rates, scope and reliefs may change.
Any statements concerning taxation are based
upon our understanding of current taxation laws
and practices which are subject to change.
Tax information has been summarised; an
individual is advised to seek personalised advice.

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The Connexion

January 2019

Work 35

connexionfrance.com

Rural French origins of three-star culinary career
by JANE HANKS
CHEF Adam Smith moved to France
before his 13th birthday with his
parents and three younger brothers.
Dad Keith and mum Sharon had
wanted a change of lifestyle and the
opportunity for the four children to
grow up in the countryside away from
urban life in Stockport. They bought a
watermill at Borrèze in the Dordogne
which they ran as a chambres d’hôtes.
Adam remembers his first days at
collège were difficult: “We arrived in
the summer and had a great time for
six weeks playing in the woods and
swimming in the pool. Then it was
time to go to school and I couldn’t
speak any French.
“It was not like an English school
where the walls were decorated. Here
the classrooms were sterile and you
had to sit at a desk all day.
“In England we had been able to do
cooking, sewing and woodwork and
move around, so it was definitely a
challenge losing that. However, when
you are listening to French all day,
you soon pick up the language.”
Exams were difficult, he said, so his
brevet did not go well.
One option afterwards was the Lycée
Hôtelier catering college in nearby
Souillac in the Lot, which has the
reputation of being one of the best in
France. “I remembered enjoying
cooking and being good at it in school
in the UK and my mum was always

Growing up
in France...
A six-month
series of interviews
with people who
moved here as children
3: Chef Adam Smith
cooking at home so this was a chance
for me. I still found the school atmosphere sterile, even if there was something practical to do.
“One day, a chef came to give career
advice and he said the best place with
the most opportunities was London.
“So when I had got my bac and done
a further year specialising in
pâtisserie, I decided to go to London
where some of my French friends had
already gone.
“I had always thought of going back
to the UK once I had my diplomas
and knew I did not want to stay in the
Dordogne, which is a bit too quiet.”
In London he worked in several
restaurants. Then he got a job at the
prestigious three-star Waterside Inn
restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, run by
Alain Roux, son of Michel Roux, one
of the two famous brothers.
“My French training definitely
helped me get the job as it was the
language spoken in the kitchens and

Adam Smith outside the Jaunty Goat in Chester, where he now works
was based on French cuisine, and
studying in France has a good reputation. I stayed there for about a year. It
was tough. There were a lot of us in
the kitchen, all trying to impress the
top chef and I think you have to be
quite aggressive to succeed.
“I learnt a massive amount and
made a lot of friends who I am still in
touch with. When I finished, I went
back to France for a short break.”
Back in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, he

found work in local restaurants but it
was too tranquil so he returned to
London and signed up for an agency.
There he gained a lot of experience
doing all sorts of different work,
including catering for the Queen’s
90th birthday dinner at the Guildhall.
For a year he had another full-time
job in a restaurant not far from
London Bridge.
“Eventually, I decided I wanted to
move on from London, which is

hectic after the French countryside. I
moved to Chester, near to where I had
lived as a child, and there was a coffee
house looking for chefs.
“It has been a great challenge and
very enjoyable to transform the menu
and now you can get varied brunches
at the Jaunty Goat.
“The atmosphere in the café is really
good and I can use all the skills I have
learned without it being as stressful as
the Waterside Inn.
“The Jaunty Goat is very popular in
Chester and we have won two awards,
including one for the best café in
Cheshire.”
His parents still live in France and
he goes back to visit as often as he
can. Another of his brothers lives and
works near him in the UK and the
other two are studying in Toulouse
and Cahors.
Adam is now 26 and, looking back,
he says living in France definitely
helped him become the person he is
today: “It was a great experience and I
do not think it is a bad thing to
experience another culture and learn
another language.
“It shaped me as a person and I have
probably got more to offer as a chef
than if I had just trained in the UK. I
have always been able to find work
and it definitely led to openings that I
would not otherwise have had.”
NEXT MONTH:

Elise Jarasse who runs a farm in Corrèze

Ex-surfer turns hemp farmer

the interest for organic farmers
in growing hemp is that it
enriches the soil, fixing nitrogen like peas and beans.
Mr Lartizien used savings
from his days as a professional
surfer and investment from a
surf equipment manufacturer
to build a factory at SaintGeours-de-Maremne, near
Hossegor in the Landes, to
process hemp. “The banks
were not interested in lending
to a surfer who wanted to grow
cannabis,” he said.
The factory, initially
equipped with machines to
husk, crush and press the seeds
for oil, is due to be extended
next year to include an area
where the stalks can also be
processed for fibre.
It sells organic - bio - Made in
France hemp oil to be used
cold as a salad dressing, both
husked and unhusked seeds,
and a meal made from the
seeds. “They are wonderfully
tasty sprinkled over salads or
added to breads,” he said.
“Above all, they are very

nutritious, full of omega 3 and
6, essential oils, protein, rare
fatty acids and trace elements.”
Mr Lartizien urged people to
grow a patch of hemp in their
vegetable gardens. Seeds can be
sourced from growers in
Finland or Italy.
The only French seed producer sells hybrid seeds, which
he does not recommend.
“For a garden the benefits are
the same as for organic farmers
– you get the soil improved
and you can eat the seeds.
“Plus, if you are building and
renovating, you can use the
stalks to make insulation
material.”
His inspiration to relaunch
the hemp industry came
directly from his days as a
surfer. “I lived for 18 years in
Hawaii and travelled the world,
and everywhere I heard people
talking of the virtues of the
plant,” he said.
“I realised it was a way to
make an effort to promote it in
a way which is good for the
planet and for people.”
Previously, hemp was
important for the rope-making
and paper industries in France.
About 10 years ago, a large
building materials company
tried to launch it as a crop
grown for insulation, which
did not work.
“This time I am confident we
are on the right track,” said Mr
Lartizien.
“The seeds are the most valuable part of the plant, which is
why I started with them.”

Strategic holistic
financial planning
Making changes to one area of
your wealth management can have
unexpected consequences in another,
so at Blevins Franks we always focus
on the overall picture for our clients.

Talk to the people who know

As a substantial company, we have the
resources to provide the infrastructure,
research and analysis to give you full
holistic advice. Our advisers in France
provide invaluable local knowledge,
supported by highly skilled tax,
pensions and investment teams.

www.blevinsfranks.com

0 805 112 163 (N0 Vert)
france@blevinsfranks.com

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2018
W I N N E R

INTERNATIONAL ADVISER

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INTERNATIONAL TAX ADVICE • INVESTMENTS • ESTATE PLANNING • PENSIONS

069-fr

RETIRED professional surfer
Vincent Lartizien has
relaunched professional hemp
growing in France. He now has
40 bio-farmers producing the
crop while he develops
factories to process it.
Hemp, also known as
industrial cannabis, is a version
of the plant where the active
ingredient THC, which gives
the “high” in smoked cannabis,
is below 0.2%. Mr Lartizien
produces it for its seeds, which
are edible and nutritious.
Hemp looks identical to the
cannabis grown as a recreational drug but it is legal to
grow it in France.
Mr Lartizien, pictured, said:
“Hemp seeds are all certified
by the European Union and
growers receive receipts for the
seeds they order.
“There is a mechanism where
local authorities are meant to
be told by the European Union
when hemp is grown but it
does not work well, so growers
often go to the gendarmes with
the documents themselves to
avoid problems.”
Hemp, planted in May and
harvested for seeds in
September, is now one of the
most profitable crops for
organic farmers to grow, with
most getting between €3,000
and €4,000 profit per hectare.
It requires rich soil on a long
rotation cycle but, once
planted, does not need weeding
or other treatment and is heat
and drought-resistant.
Apart from being profitable,

Many jobs unfilled
due to lack of skills
MANY sectors are struggling to
recruit even though 3.4million
are unemployed in France.
Lack of qualifications, low pay
or tough working conditions are
often cited as reasons.
IT is one sector in which jobs
are often not filled because of a
lack of skilled applicants.
Other struggling sectors
include industry, building, sales,
services to businesses and in the
home, and farming work such
as grape-picking and harvesting.
Up to 300,000 jobs went
unfilled during 2017, the last
year for which full figures are
available from Pôle Emploi.
The main problem was lack
of candidates with the right,
or sufficiently up-to-date and
specialised, training.
Jobs requiring technical
knowledge, such as manufacturing industrial equipment, are
among those where firms have
great recruitment difficulties.
Under-qualification is also a
problem: half of French jobseekers have not completed any
post-baccalauréat training.
The problem is compounded
by the fact that some seemingly straightforward jobs are
becoming more technical – a
refuse lorry driver, for example,

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

now needs IT skills to operate
the onboard computer used to
organise the rounds.
Partly to blame is a lack of
good continuing training,
according to the OECD group
of advanced economies.
Chief economist of Natixis
Bank Patrick Artus says lack
of skills is also holding back
the use of advanced robotics
technology.
He said, in Le Monde, it mostly
explains why France has more
unemployment than Germany.
Another issue in some sectors,
such as hospitality, is that
salaries and working conditions
can be off-putting.
Figures from Insee and Pôle
Emploi show specific jobs
which are hardest to fill include
dentists, technical draftspeople,
panel beaters, pipe fitters,
aircraft crew, roofers,
carpenters, home help, machine
regulators (who check settings),
boilermakers and metalworkers.
Sectors where lack of skills is
most cited as a problem include
building, such as bricklayers
(as well as secondary trades
including electricians,
plumbers and insulators),
the motor industry and road
haulage.

Small business
and tax advice
Is micro-foncier ceiling
doubled for a couple?
Q: WE ARE resident in France and so pay tax here. We own a
second property we wish to rent out. The income may exceed the
€15,000 limit to access the micro-foncier. Is this doubled to
€30,000 if the property is jointly owned? What allowances are
available to offset the cost of owning a rental property?
A: FIRSTLY, the €15,000 limit to access the simple micro-foncier
system for declaring (unfurnished) rental income is per household
(foyer fiscal) so this includes married or civil partners and dependants who live with them.
The micro-foncier system has a set abatement of 30% of the
income to account for expenses relating to the rental of the
property so you cannot offset any other specific expenses.
If rental income falls outside the micro-foncier threshold, or you
do not want to make use of it, then you are required to declare it
under the réel system, on form 2044, deducting real expenses
(keep proof – receipts etc – of these in case you are checked).
There are higher thresholds and allowances under the micro-BIC
but this system applies to income from furnished lettings, including
chambres d’hôtes and gîtes, and not unfurnished rental.
Note that those with regular income from renting out a property
will as of this year be subject to monthly or three-monthly direct
debits from their bank accounts as estimated tax instalments (with
possible repayments or extra tax later once the full income or, for
the réel, profit, is known and declared in 2020). People who start
having rental income in 2019 are subject to this immediately and
will be required to update their tax details in their online space at
impots.gouv.fr so the income is taken into account.
 Email your tax questions to news@connexionfrance.com
This column is sponsored by Olaf Muscat Baron who is a Fellow
of the Chartered Association of Accountants UK, a French
expert comptable and an International tax advisor. He is the principal
accountant of Fiscaly, an accountancy firm based in the Dordogne
which serves individuals and businesses in or out of France.
See www.fiscaly.fr or call 09 81 09 00 15

January 2019

Hard work leads to success
for soft furnishings expert
CRAFTS
in focus
by JANE HANKS
HANDS-ON experience is the
key to success in upholstery,
says experienced tapisseur
décorateur Sébastien Eloy.
He runs his own business in
Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the
Corrèze, and is one of five
upholsterers in a town of
45,000 people – proving there
is work to be had.
He restores and creates
chairs, armchairs and sofas. He
likes working with antiques but
also with contemporary furniture, and his shop is full of
colour, from the bright and
cheerful materials he favours.
“I became an upholsterer
because it was my father’s job,”
he said. “When I was young, I
loved watching him work and
knew I wanted to do that when
I grew up.
“I learned everything from
him. I only studied for one
qualification, a CAP in sewing,
because I wanted to create my
own modern furniture, where
you often have to sew, as well
as tack material on to a frame.”
Many people have quality
pieces of furniture in their
homes that they want to restore
rather than throw away.
A lot of his work comes from
word of mouth and he says it is
always a pleasure to hand over
a chair he has worked on
which now looks like new.
He said: “The client has to
have confidence in you because
he is handing over a part of his
family history and when you
have done a good job, it is
satisfying because the client is
happy with the result, because
something precious to him or
her can continue to be used for
many more years.”
He says people worry about
cost, but taking a chair to an
upholsterer is around the same
price as buying new from a
quality furniture store.
So you pay the same and get,
in effect, a new piece of furniture, but you have something
more valuable because it
already has its own history.
On average, a chair will take
him two days to upholster.
“You need a lot of patience and
to work slowly and carefully. I
would not say I am an artist
but a craftsman who knows
how to use his hands.
“You can go to college and
learn how to do it, but really
the only way is to get as much
practical experience as you
can. I love the work because it
is so varied.
No two chairs are the same. I
may upholster several Voltaire
chairs in a year, but they are

“

Above, Sébastien Eloy restores a family’s favourite chair.
Below, some of his brightly coloured original creations

I would not say
I am an artist
but a craftsman
who knows how
to use his hands

Upholsterer
Sébastien Eloy

always slightly different in style
and materials.”
The term tapissier décorateur,
or tapissier d’ameublement, is
not restricted to chairs and
sofas but applies to curtains,
cushions and wall-hangings.
Although most of the work is
with furniture, the definition
given by the Institut National
des Métiers d’Art is “working
with materials to create interior
textile decorations”.
In 2015 there were 4,400
artisanal upholstery businesses
in France – far fewer than in
2005, when there were 6,550.
Nearly half of their work
(40%) is restoration and the
rest is working on new furniture. They work mostly for
private clients.
Most tapissier décorateurs
(68%) work for themselves. If
not, their businesses are small
with up to three employees. It
is a job which attracts women
and men in equal proportions.
You need an artistic flair and
a sense of colour, and you must

be good with your hands. As it
often involves restoration, you
need to know about the history
and the different styles of
furniture – the difference
between a Louis XV and a
Voltaire chair, for example.
You need patience and
dexterity and there is a great
deal of technique to learn –
using hammers, tacks, needles,
various threads, scissors,
different materials from leather
to fine silks, and a sewing
machine.
It is a manual job and uses
very little machinery.
The upholsterer often has his
own workshop, which can
include a shop where he sells
what he has made or restored
direct to the public.
Often, he is called to someone’s home to look at a piece of
family furniture which needs
restoring to give a quotation.
If your first job is working for
someone else, you will start on
the smic, the minimum wage.
You do not need to have any

formal training to set up as an
upholsterer, but there are plenty of specific training courses.
You can do a CAP tapissier
lasting one to three years after
the brevet and can choose
between tapissier d’ameublement en décor or tapissier
d’ameublement en siège.
There are four possibilities at
Bac level: a BAC PRO artisanat
et métiers d’art with an option
tapissier d’ameublement (two
years); a brevet professionnel
ameublement option tapisserie
decoration (two years); a formation métiers d’art spécialité
tapisserie (three years); or a
brevet technique des métiers,
tapissier décorateur (two years).
Further studies are for a
diplôme des métiers d’art, and
the highest qualification is to
become an Artisan Tapissier de
France, which is awarded by a
jury to someone who is highly
qualified and shows he or she
has produced work of a very
high standard during his or
her career.

The Connexion

January 2019

Property 37

connexionfrance.com

Property Watch
in

A brief history of
humanity at site of
renovated chateau

AS RECENTLY as 50 years ago, all you
could see of the Château de Commarque
was part of the castle’s keep and the cross
on top of the chapel, just visible among the
trees on a densely wooded hillside.
Now the treasures of the site have been
revealed after decades of painstaking
archaeological and historical research, a
massive – and continuing – clearing
operation and major works to reinforce
and restore crumbling walls.
The chateau, between Sarlat and Les
Eyzies in the Dordogne, has been open to
the public since 2000.
Last year it was awarded the Grand
Trophée de la Plus Belle Restauration by the
Fondation pour les Monuments
Historiques and Le Figaro Magazine.
Owner Hubert de Commarque said:
“The site is unique because it was lived in
from prehistoric times up to the 16th
century. After that, it was deserted and so
we have an open history book we can read,
from the caves lived in by early man at the
bottom of the cliffs up to the homes built
further up the hillside for the lords who
ruled over this territory.
“Here there is everything man needed. A
spring, plenty of wild animals and stone
cliffs, first to shelter in and then to provide
building materials. This was an important
route between the two towns of Montignac
and Sarlat. Later, the seats of power
changed and the inhabitants moved on.”
Visitors get a hint of what our ancestors
saw – cars are parked out of sight and the
castle is a short walk down a lane into the
grassy valley of the Beaune, where there is
no evidence of modern life. No telephone
wires, no tarmac... the only building
opposite is a 14th century private castle.
At every turn, the stones and cliffs show
the marks that tell the story of
Commarque. On the hillside, the visitor
discovers a medieval castle with the
remains of surrounding houses, a chapel
and a paved street.
The imposing keep has two halves. A
12th-century section with thick walls has
stone trapdoors in the ceilings, through
which noble families would climb using
ladders they would haul up after them to
make sure they were safe from attack.
An elegant window with columns high
up in the tower shows it was for people of
importance. Added on is the 13th-century
half, with slimmer walls and larger living
spaces. When restoration work started, the

Architecture
of France...
Château de
Commarque

By JANE
HANKS

tower was an empty shell; now floors and
stone stairs have been added, so visitors
can get a feel of what it was like.
The latest project was the 14th-century
corps de logis, or living quarters, which
juxtapose the keep – and here too a spiral
staircase and floors have been added and
fireplaces restored. Scaffolding was erected
up the sheer walls and expert masons
refaced the stone, which was crumbling.
Records show that the complex was
inhabited by different noble families at the
same time, each with their own tower.
They did not necessarily live harmoniously
as records also show there were several
court cases.
Down on the valley floor are the
entrances to caves, which were inhabited
from the Paleolithic period.
Sadly, impressive prehistoric carvings
cannot be seen by the public as the
entrances are narrow and access is difficult. The valley in which Commarque is
situated has the largest concentration of
engraved Paleolithic caves in the world.
All along the cliffs below the castle are
the tell-tale square indentations where
wooden beams were once fixed for the
houses built against the rock face.
“These would have been for the roof
timbers,” said Mr Commarque. “The rest
of the building would have been below the
ground we are standing on.
“Since man first lived here, there has
been a build-up of about 15 metres of peat.
This is something we now want to explore,
to find what is hidden below us.
Everything we uncover, every detail in the
stone, gives us yet more clues as to the way
life was lived here in the past.
“If you look at these stairs carved in the
rock and then look just next to it, you can
see a cruder, narrower set which were
made earlier, when tools were less developed. Everything tells a story.”
Though Hubert de Commarque is the
present owner and, as his name indicates,

his ancestors also lived here, he had to buy
the site in 1968 before he could start work.
In the early 20th century, the site was
bought by a German prince who had
acquired a nearby chateau. For five years
he pillaged Commarque for building stone.
“He demolished at least four towers and
a house,” said Mr Commarque.
He says he bought it because he knew the
whole place would fall into irreparable
ruin if he did not act. He had already
inherited other chateaux in the region,
which he had restored, and he has always
been passionate about heritage and the
environment so it was a natural step to
tackle Commarque. “I never imagined that
I would open it to the public, though,” he
said. “I thought it would be too difficult. I
just wanted to preserve the site.”
It has been a long struggle. He could not
fund it alone and has had to battle to find
finance, comply with regulations and
convince local people that it should open.
He received financial help from the state
and from American sponsors who helped
fund the costly annual archaeological digs
and research for more than 25 years.
Then, when he wanted to open it to the
public, an association was set up to fight
the plan. He is not sure that a National
Trust-like organisation would have helped
as he would not have liked to give control
to someone else who might not have
shared his vision. He is also not the sort of
man to direct everything from the end of a
telephone – he is very hands-on.
Now in his seventies and recovering from
a stroke, he was recently shifting trees and
more earth to reveal the walls of yet
another lord’s house.
He runs Commarque with his wife
Christine and children, Aude and Jean,
and he clearly loves the place. He took me
to see every nook and cranny, involving
quite a climb from bottom to top.
He said: “We have tried to keep restoration minimalist so as to keep the magic of
the place alive. After all these years and the
struggle it has been, I find it a great
satisfaction when visitors show their
enthusiasm and you can see the stars in
their eyes as they discover a miraculous
place and they thank us with emotion.”
Open April to November. Workshops for
children. www.commarque.com
More photos can be found with this
article online at connexionfrance.com

Brittany

REGIONAL CAPITAL: Rennes
DEPARTMENTS: Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Ille-etVilaine, Morbihan
MAIN CITIES: Brest, Quimper, Lorient, Vannes, Saint-Malo,
Saint-Brieuc, Lanester, Fougères, Concarneau, Lannion, Morlaix
A PETITION of 100,000 signatures was handed in to officials
of Loire-Atlantique at the end of November 2018 demanding
that the department return to its historic region of Brittany.
The petition had enough signatures to trigger a legal
mechanism that has prompted a debate and possible vote
which could – possibly – see four departments become five
in future, and historic Brittany be restored for the first time
since 1940.
For now, however, modern Brittany remains made up of four
departments looking out into the Atlantic from the north-west
coast of France – Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine and
Morbihan –in an ancient land of myth, mystery, and proud
tradition.
Maybe that is what makes the region so attractive: that
sense of being forever undiscovered beyond the well-known
delights of Saint-Malo, Dinard or Dinan.
Whatever the reason, Brittany remains perennially popular
with Britons looking to move to France, but – despite that – it
is still highly affordable. A typical house in Brest, for example,
will cost about €172,000, according to latest available
figures from Notaires de France, which remains firmly in the
price range of many prospective buyers, despite a 7.2% yearon-year increase, well above the national average.
Prices across the region range from highs of about €2,180/
m2 to €1,100/m2, Notaires de France figures show.

What your money buys
Under €55,000

Fantastic opportunity to purchase
a cute one-bedroom cottage with
garden and summer house.
This house has a wood-burning stove
and is within walking distance of the
boulangerie and other amenities. The
perfect easy-to-maintain holiday
home, near to Plounévez-Quintin.
€31,500 Ref: 79378GLO22

Charming detached stone house.
This is is the perfect lock-up-andleave holiday home!
Situated in the countryside, a
short drive from Callac with all its
amenities. This perfect two-bedroom
stone house would be the ideal lowmaintenance holiday home.
€52,000 Ref: 73319LRE22

More than €75,000

Excellent price for this large threebedroom home close to village
centre - 20km from the beaches!
In a village with bakery, restaurant
and welcoming community. A short
drive from the beautiful coastline
and stunning beaches, with easy
access to Lannion and Guingamp.
€77,000 Ref: 89373LRE22

Looking for something a little
different? Two one-bed houses,
full of character at end of a lane.
A great investment property at the
edge of Jugon-les-Lacs. Within 500m
of the town centre, benefiting from
the peace and quiet of the countryside with all the amenities to hand.
€99,550 Ref: 94869SAB22

Q: I plan to buy a house in France
where I will live with my partner.
If I should die first, I would like
my partner to continue living in
the home for as long as he wants
although ownership will pass
to my two sons in England. I
thought a usufruit would do this
but now I learn my partner would
pay 60% tax upon my death.
Would a PACS avoid this? T.G.
A: A PACS (pacte civil de
solidarité) is a form of civil
partnership agreement.
It can be between same
or different-sex couples
and non-French nationals
must live in France before
becoming PACS partners.
A PACS does not create
an entitlement for the
surviving partner to inherit
on the death of the first of
you. However, it allows the
same tax treatment as a
married couple and would
therefore ensure that
any asset passing to the
surviving partner would be
free from inheritance tax.
You could become PACS
partners and make a
French will giving your
partner a life interest (usu-

fruit) entitling him to
remain in the house for
the rest of his life. Your
sons will inherit the bare
interest (nue-propriété),
which is legal title subject
only to the life interest.
If you die first, your
partner will be exempt
from paying inheritance
tax. On his death, his life
interest ends and your
sons own the property
outright in equal shares.
Some additional points:
A bequest on death to a
PACS partner must not
impinge on the reserved
entitlement of any children
of the deceased. As you
have two sons, they are
each entitled to 1/3 of
your estate. Through a will,
you can leave your partner
the remaining 1/3 or a life
interest in the estate. In
order to ensure your partner receives the life interest, your will must include
a reference to article 917
of the Civil Code. Discuss
this with your notaire.
PACS couples. like married couples, are assessed
jointly for income tax.

Q: Our house heating comes
from an old oil boiler and, as
pensioners, the slump in the
exchange rate, plus price rises.
means it is harder to pay for oil
to keep us warm.
I have seen there is extra new
aid becoming available from EDF
that could help us get away from
oil altogether – can you explain
what it involves? J.S.
A: There is, indeed, help
available if you want to opt
for a greener and more
fuel-efficient heating system
and the aid involved is
significant, given the high
cost of a new system.
At present, aid from the
state ranges from €2,000 to
€3,000 for people on lower
incomes who can benefit
from the Coup de pouce
économies d’énergie.
As a couple, the maximum

earning level if you are
judged to be of moderately low income (ménages
modestes) is €27,200 to get
a €2,000 grant and for very
low incomes (ménages très
modestes) €21,217 for a
€3,000 grant.
However, as you point out,
EDF has recently said it is
keen to help people who are
tied to an old oil boiler and
has announced extra aid to
help them move on to new
cleaner, greener energy.
In this case, EDF is offering to increase the grant aid
by 50% for people who opt
to switch to a heat pump
(pompe à chaleur), giving
€4,500 for those on very
low incomes and €3,000 for
low incomes.
However, it must be noted
that the average price of a
heat pump is €11,000.

Tel: 05 61 57 90 86  www.brightavocats.com
contact@brightavocats.com
If you have a legal query send it to news@connexionfrance.com
We select questions for answer every edition

connexionfrance.com

The Connexion

January 2019

chateau for sale... at €4.7m
by CLAIRE McQUE

The former Lot home of
composer, poet and author Léo
Ferré and his chimpanzee is on
the market for €4,770,000.
The 14th-century Château de
Pechrigal – where Ferré lived
from1963 until 1968 – stands
three kilometres outside the
village of Gourdon.
Pech-Rigal means royal hill
in old local French dialect,
befitting its hilltop position.
The 67-hectare plot includes
meadows, tennis courts, a pool
and half a hectare of Merlot
vineyards, giving 4,000 bottles
of wine a year.
The chateau, a grand affair of
17 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms,
guard house, pigeonnier, wine
cellar, restored farmhouse and
two outhouses, was bought
and renovated by a Frenchman
in 1998.
He transformed the
crumbling property into a
luxurious second home,
occasionally used for private
events and weddings.
It had fallen into disrepair
after rebel composer Ferré left
it unlived-in for 25 years.
Ferré, born to bourgeois
parents in Monaco, escaped his
strict Christian upbringing to
live in Rome and then Paris,
where he fell into intellectual
life and composing music.
In Paris, he hung out with the
likes of André Breton, Jean
Cocteau, Jacques Prévert and
Juliette Gréco, whose all-black
clothing was inspired by Ferré’s
anarchist’s black shirt and
trousers. Jolie Môme and Paris

Léo Ferré
and Pépée
were a
fixture at
Pechrigal,
where the
chimp
helped
speed the
damage by
throwing
tiles off
the roof
Canaille were two of Ferré’s
songs made famous by Gréco.
The artist’s ardent support of
the anarchists during the
Spanish Civil War fed much
of his creative output.
His contempt for society, the
church, the army and the
government translated into his
mixture of classic chansons,
surrealist poetry and writing.
Known also for the songs
Avec le Temps and La Chanson
du Scaphandrier (The Deep sea
Diver’s Song), his lyrics were

inspired by the
poets Rimbaud, Baudelaire
and Apollinaire.
The period Ferré spent at
Pechrigal with his second wife
Madeleine Rabereau and her
daughter Annie was prolific. It
was there he composed the
album Verlaine et Rimbaud.
He also wrote C’est le
Printemps, recorded the album
Ferré 64, and wrote the controversial Franco la Muerte. He
even set up a printing press in
one of the wings. Most famous-

ly, Ferré lived there with Pépée,
a female chimpanzee.
A 1966 documentary showed
the chimp drinking soup at the
dinner table and smoking a
cigarette. Pépée even stripped
tiles from the roof and threw
them at people.
Ferré considered the chimp
his child and when Pépée died,
he moved to Tuscany with
third wife Marie-Christine, and
the chateau lay unused.
Kirsten Pollard of MaxwellBaynes, the estate agent
managing the sale (maxwellbaynes.com), said its rich
history and recent artistic links
had not added any financial
value to the property but “give
a sense of interest and cultural
value. People are interested in
the story of a place”.
She said Pechrigal was getting
many inquiries: “It would make
a great second home. It is in a
beautiful, low-key area where
you can live normally and
escape the crowds.”

Shorter-term rental Lightning reaction
a help for workers from Météo-France
A NEW type of short-term,
simplified and flexible contract
has been created that could
give home-owners the option
to rent out for longer periods
and avoid any negative effects
of Airbnb holiday rentals.
The lease, known as a bail
mobilité, has been set up for
people who need furnished
accommodation for periods of
between one and 10 months.
After a maximum of 10
months, the tenant must move
out, though shorter agreements
may be extended up to the
maximum period.
Previously, traditional leases
lasted a minimum of one year.
The bail mobilité would be
suitable for temporary workers,
students, anyone in vocational
training or on apprenticeship
contracts, who might otherwise have had to refuse a job
offer or internship, for example, because the traditional

process of finding accommodation was a problem.
The lease does not require
the usual two-month security
deposit for a furnished
property, which cuts costs for
tenants with limited means.
Landlords are still protected
as the lease is covered by a
public and free guarantee
offered by Action Logement,
known as the Visale.
The Visale usually protects
landlords for unpaid rents,
but for a bail mobilité, it also
guarantees to cover any
damage caused by the tenant at
the end of the lease.
Tenants may terminate the
lease at any time, by giving a
minimum of one month’s
notice.
Landlords do not have the
same right, except in the event
of a breach by the tenant. They
can then bring court action to
end the lease.

PROVING that an accident or
damage to your property was
caused by a lightning storm is
easier than you might think.
A lightning strike certificate
supplied by the national
forecaster Météo-France is an
official document and is
recognised by all insurance
companies in France.
The attestation de foudroiement accurately details storms
(and associated aspects such as
lightning) that occurred on a
specific day in a particular area
which could have caused
material damage to a property
or led to an accident.
It provides evidence that a
storm was going on at the time
of an incident for which a
claim has been submitted, and
will confirm – or not – that
lightning strikes were recorded
in the area where an insurance
claim has been submitted.
Lightning strike data is collat-

ed by numerous sensors across
France, which is then relayed
to a central processor in Pau.
It analyses and processes the
information in real time to
determine the location and
characteristics of all detected
strikes across France.
It can be ordered at tinyurl.
com/y8natxw9 and costs €61
plus taxes.
Normally, you will receive the
certificate within a week of
applying for it – and it gives
details of strikes within 20km
of your home.
You can choose to receive the
attestation through the post or
by email.
For damage or accidents
caused by other weather events
(for example, strong wind,
heavy rain, or very low temperatures), Météo-France recommends applying for its €62.50
weather certificate, le certificat
d’intempérie.

The Connexion

January 2019

Property 39

connexionfrance.com

How to decide if you should do it yourself
THINKING about having work done
on your home? The first, most crucial,
question is: can you do it yourself? The
second question is: should you, or
would it be wiser to call a professional?
It depends. I have not come across any
home improvement task that I cannot
theoretically do myself.
In the last 16 years I have tackled jobs
that I would have previously thought
beyond my abilities, but some I have
happily handed over to contractors.
How do I decide who does which kind
of job? Some DIYers I know draw a line
across a personal no-go area: they will
do anything except touch electricity or
plumbing, because the consequences of
a mistake seem to be irreversible. I do
not think like that.
The key calculation is: do I have the
means to undertake that which I am
about to undertake?
That means, as a minimum, sufficient
knowledge and the necessary equipment. There is no shortage of advice
around (mostly in French, of course)
and often it comes down to whether I

Brittany offers best
value on insurance
PROPERTY owners in Brittany
pay as much as €52 less for their
home insurance than someone
living in a similar property on
the Côte d’Azur.
The average annual cost of
home insurance in France
is €180, but residents pay a
premium in Paca, while those in
northwest France pay just €142.

Form and function,
style and warmth...

ANYONE who likes warm
towels after a shower will love
this radiator from Vasco. It has
32.5cm shelving behind it,
creating both warmth and
handy storage in a tight space.
The Niva Bain has a hanging
rail and three steel shelves with
power from 406-1,023W. The
934W model shown costs €836.

Pledge to cut student
housing shortage
THE government has promised
to create 60,000 affordable
properties for students by 2022
– on top of the 40,000 it has
created in the past five years.
The plan to cut the shortage
of affordable accommodation
for students will target key
areas of the country.

DIY

Photo: Nick Inman

Some buyers fear renovation
but others welcome it... our
writer Nick Inman has a foot in
both camps, as he tells in this
ongoing series of articles

When you
don’t have
a ...clou

have adequate tools, or can buy or hire
them for a reasonable price.
I also consider whether I have enough
time (and, for outdoor jobs, whether
the good weather will hold). It may
require a continuous stretch without
interruption, rather than half an hour
every other weekend.
Another self-assessment question is:
can I do it myself in a literal sense? Do I
have the strength and stamina? Will I
need assistance at some point?
Sometimes the decision is also a
matter of courage and commitment.
Start cutting a hole in an almost-new
roof to fit a skylight and you cannot
stop until the thing is watertight again.
Commitment also means resolving
not to panic when the unexpected
problem occurs – which it will.
Even if I can do the job myself, that
still leaves “Should I do it?”. Apart from
saving the cost of paying a professional,
there are two major considerations. One
is that if someone else does it, I lose
control. I have effectively had four electricians involved in the wiring of a new

DIY tile work may be uneven but gives a feeling of autonomy and satisfaction
guest room. The third undid the work
of the second then retired, leaving me
with a junction box which might have
been a work of art but took me a year to
figure out so that I could finish the job.
It might have been quicker, overall, to
have done it myself to begin with.
There are two really big differences
between a DIY and a professional job.
The first and most evident is the finish.
My house is definitively rustic in style –
and that includes all the modern additions. The joints of the plasterboard are
rough, some of my tile work is uneven,
and there are splashes of paint where
there should not be. I work to the best
of my abilities but I am far from perfect.
Mostly, I can live with my own imperfections but where it needs to look

good, I would be tempted to get in
someone who can do it properly.
The clincher difference, however, is
emotional.
Tradesmen (or tradeswomen) will do
the job much better in a fraction of the
time... but that brings me no personal
satisfaction.
I do DIY partly to save money but
mostly to learn new techniques and
know how my house “works”.
Do it yourself and you have a minor
sense of autonomy, of being in control
of your own living space.
It is an illusion, of course, because in
an old French farmhouse nothing ever
stays straight or immaculate for long.
The house tells you how things are
going to be, not the other way around.

Estate agent
wins fee case
ESTATE agents are entitled to
their fees once a sale agreement
is signed, a court has ruled.
The Cour de Cassation overturned an earlier ruling when
it said a purchaser’s decision
not to go ahead with the deal
after the 10-day withdrawal
period should have no bearing
on whether the agent, through
which the initial agreement was
signed, should be paid.
The buyer had argued that the
agent should not be paid as the
sale was not concluded.

Trêve is lost

for squatters
SQUATTERS no longer have
the protection of the winter
truce on evictions.
The Elan law contains an
amendment that specifically
excludes them from the trêve
hivernale, which stops landlords evicting tenants who are
behind with their rent between
November 1 and March 31.
Previously, although they
were not directly protected, the
trêve was often invoked in an
attempt to prevent landlords
evicting squatters.

Unauthorised work can be approved

THOSE long-ago home
improvements could come
back to bite you when you
decide to sell if you did not get
planning permission.
Extensions, conservatories,
garages, conversions of existing
garages into new rooms and
some swimming pools, fences
and entrances are among
improvements that can need
planning consent.
Generally only very small
construction work of a few
square metres requires no formalities. Above that, typically
works of up to 20m2 require a
simple déclaration préalable to
your mairie. Above 20m2, work
needs planning permission.
The local administration has
the option to refuse the work
within one month of receipt of
a déclaration (see column right).
Even simple work such as
installing a roof-light window
requires a déclaration because
it is regarded as an change to
the appearance of the building’s exterior.
If that new window is part of
the construction of a new room
that is greater than 20m2 you
need planning permission.
The rules are, naturally,
stricter for properties in conservation areas, or for listed
buildings. In such cases, before
starting any work you should
discuss your plans with the
local council.
Not obtaining the required
consent for home improvement
work could lead to later applications for permission for other
works being turned down.

Building a garden shed requires permission if over 20m2
However, work that did not
quite meet planning approval
requirements (for example,
building a 25m2 extension
rather than a 22m2 one that
was subject to permissions
received) is unlikely to face
mairie opposition after 10
years of completion
In serious cases, not getting
the appropriate approval can
lead to sizeable fines – a film
director was fined €5million
in 2010 for carrying out
significant unauthorised work
on a chateau near Nice.

But do not panic if you have
had work done that you later
realise should have required
permission. It is possible to
submit a planning application
and obtain consent retrospectively, provided the work
complies with local and
national regulations.
If not, authorities can require
you to return the property to
its original condition.
The process for obtaining
‘regularisation’ (effectively, formal recognition) of previously unapproved property

work is similar to the process
for applying for appropriate
permission in the first place.
A standard planning application needs to be made, with all
the usual attachments – plans,
‘before and after’ drawings, and
photographs.
It must show that the work
has already been carried out,
and that the application is to
formally recognise this fact,
and request approval.
If a buyer, or notaire acting
on behalf of a buyer, discovers
work has been carried out
without the necessary
approvals, they may pull out of
the deal – or demand that
planning permission is
obtained before continuing.
Be warned: the wheels of
French bureaucracy grind
slowly with applications for
post-work approval, so expect
a wait after the file has been
submitted.
If you are unsure whether
your work should have had
planning permission, the
service technique in your mairie
should be able to advise you.
Most mairies will have a PLU
(plan local d’urbanisme) and a
POS (plan d’occupation des sols)
which will include details of
any rules, such as maximum
heights of building and facade
colours. In the absence of
these, the national code de l’urbanisme sets the standard.
Note that any increase in the
size or upgrade to your home,
such as a swimming pool, is
likely to impact the level of
your local property taxes.

Declaration
or permit?

NOT all building work on
your property requires
planning permission – some
work simply requires you to
declare it to your mairie to
ensure it complies with local
planning regulations.
The mairie has 30 days to
reply if they have an objection – or to ask more information.
After that you must put up a
copy of the déclaration showing a stamp from the mairie
outside your property.
Neighbours then have two
months in which to object.
It is recommended to have a
huissier note that the notice is
on show to avoid possible
issues later.
The rule particularly applies
to building work that creates
a structure of between 5m²
and 20m². The declaration - a
déclaration préalable de
travaux – is made on a simplified form (cerfa 13703*06).
Examples of when this can
be used include:
l A conservatory or
greenhouse if the height is
more than 1.8m but less than
4m high and if the surface
area does not exceed 2,000m2
l Installation of in-ground
swimming pool of between
10m2 and 100m2 with a cover
which is either fixed or moveable but less than 1.8m high.

The Back Page

The Connexion

connexionfrance.com

January 2019

France’s mistrust of vaccination ‘is putting us at risk’

ABOUT half of French people either
disagree or do not know in response
to the statement “Overall, I think
vaccines are safe”, an article in
the medical journal The Lancet
revealed in November.
This is a bad situation, says
Françoise Salvadori, biologist and
immunologist at the Université de
Bourgogne. To put the figure into
context it is 16% in China and the UK
and 13%, for example, in Germany.
Dr Salvadori said: “Falling vaccination levels are affecting ‘herd immunity’. Tetanus is reappearing in France,
as is diphtheria across Europe.
“The eradication of polio is slowing
and only 20% of French nurses have
taken up the offer of a free flu jab.”
The Lancet’s report followed a study
of 65,819 people across 67 countries
carried out by Dr Heidi Larson, of the
London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine.
The European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control also said in
November that the most recent out-

break of measles in the EU had led to
33 deaths. Measles and rubella are
increasingly common in France.
“This was why the law was changed
from January 2018 to make 11 vaccinations obligatory between a child’s
birth and second birthday,” said Dr
Salvadori. “We’ve seen improved
uptake but I doubt we’ll see the results
for another two years until children
start school at the age of three.”
The public has been suspicious of
vaccinations since they were
introduced in the 18th century – a
time when the mistrust was justified.
“Vaccinations did save lives, but they
were much more dangerous because
there was no idea that needles should
be sterilised, and patients were often
injected with pus from an ill person.”
Today, she said, many vaccines do
not contain living cells which could
cause a medical reaction, let alone an
illness. Where live vaccines are still
used, they often use only parts of cells
so they cannot cause the actual
disease – though they can, rarely, lead
to a slight reaction.
She says: “The problem is if
someone catches a cold while sitting
in the doctor’s waiting room waiting
to be vaccinated, they might blame
the vaccination – which is medically
impossible – rather than connect it to
having sat near someone who is ill.”
Dr Salvadori, who has worked on
cancer and AIDS research, is now
investigating how the public understands scientific advances. She has

Photo: Touche pas à mon gosse 2 / Facebook

France’s
recent record
on vaccination
is poor. Biologist
and immunologist
Françoise Salvadori
(pictured) explains
some of the reasons why

‘Anti-vax’ videos, like this, have been
viewed millions of times on social
media. Dr Salvadori says people
believe them without question
published a book on the subject,
Antivax: Histoire de la Résistance aux
Vaccins du XVIIIe Siècle à Nos Jours,
co-written with science historian
Laurent-Henri Vignaud.
She says reasons for avoiding
vaccinations include: misinformation
spread via social media; a general
mistrust of the state as well as “big
pharma”; a belief that nature is better
than chemicals; a refusal to accept
that diseases such as measles, mumps
and rubella can have serious lifelong
consequences; and even in certain
circles a belief that getting ill in some
way strengthens and helps children.
“The French authorities haven’t
helped,” she said. “There have been so
many medical scandals. The disclosure that HIV-contaminated blood

had been given to patients even after
the authorities knew it was contaminated did huge damage to public trust.
“The government’s insistence that
the Chernobyl fallout cloud stopped
at the border was also ill-judged.
“Another strange thing is that some
GPs prescribe homeopathic remedies
even though there isn’t a shred of
evidence that homeopathy works.
Doctors must know they are ineffective, but perhaps they think patients
expect these prescriptions – or perhaps they rely on the placebo effect.
“There is also an excessive trust in
nature. People think that natural
remedies can’t harm them. People
forget that before modern medicine,
when everyone relied on ‘natural
remedies’, many people died at 40.
“But the social movement towards
organic products, natural fabrics, the
turning away from plastics and industrially-prepared food means people
also turn away from ‘big pharma’.
“All sorts of misinformation circulates online and because much of it
chimes with what we already believe,
and because we feel no one has anything to gain financially by informing
us via the web, people tend to believe
it without question. It’s a problem.”
She says the truth about vaccinations is that they work, they save lives,
and they are the safest, most-tested
drugs currently used in medicine –
and they do not cause autism or
auto-immune diseases. Due to
vaccination, the last known case of

smallpox was seen in 1977, and it was
declared eradicated in 1980.
Vaccinations carry fewer risks than
paracetamol or ibuprofen. “But people
can feel an immediate benefit when
they take paracetamol, so they accept
the small risk. Often, they think their
children won’t come into contact with
a serious disease, so why bother
vaccinating them?”
But she issued a note of warning:
“Not all diseases can be wiped out. It
will be possible to eradicate polio and
measles, for example, because they are
only carried by humans, but tetanus
will never be eradicated because it’s
present in all soil, and you can’t
vaccinate all the soil in the world.
“It will be difficult to eradicate
rabies, too, as it’s carried by wild
animals as well as humans, so with
diseases like that we have to protect
everyone individually.”
She particularly recommends
influenza vaccination. “The truth is
that it is 70% effective in under-fives
and only 50% effective in people over
65 because the virus mutates.
“But true influenza, as opposed to a
heavy cold, can be fatal, and can lead
to fatal secondary infections.
“It is 100% impossible to get flu or
even a cold from the vaccination
because it is a dead vaccine so there is
nothing to lose and everything to gain
from being vaccinated.”
l We profile ‘father’ of vaccines Louis
Pasteur in this month’s French Living

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